Effects of Caffeine on Performance and Health of Mice
Copyright ã 2003
What are the effects of caffeine on mice? Are they similar to humans? What are the physical effects of caffeine on mice?
This experiment will find what caffeine does to a mouse’s
body; does it speed up the heart rate? Will it affect the mousse life span?
What are the after affects does caffeine have on a mouse?
For this experiment, the following items will be needed in the care of the mouse:
5 gallon Aquarium
Bedding
Wheel
Water Bottle
Food
House
The supplies needed for testing includes:
Coffee
Syringe
2.5x2.5ft Maze
Procedure
After the mouse has been brought to the lab and has been settled into its new home, it will be put on a healthy and be introduced into the maze. As soon as the mouse knows the maze well, the caffeine will be administered before running the maze again (coffee, which contains caffeine, will be given by mouth through a syringe), and it will then be timed again. After doing this for a few weeks, the times will be compared.
Along with this experiment, the health and weight of the mouse will be monitored to see any reaction to caffeine. As the experiment goes on, more caffeine will gradually be added into the diet, along with the caffeine administered when the maze is ran.
To figure how much coffee will be needed to be administered to the mouse, the average amount of coffee drunken by the average person in the morning, the weight of that person will be proportioned to that of the mouse in the experiment, and that amount of coffee will be given to the mouse before it runs the maze.
Purpose:
The effects of the caffeine on the mice may have same or similar effects to that of humans, so the pros and cons can be compared of coffee to see if it is a healthy drink or not.
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North Ogden Science Club
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