Pig Liver Experiment

Introduction

The purpose of this experiment is to test what concentration of alcohol causes the liver to be damaged the most. We will be testing this by observing the effects of alcohol on the liver. In order to have a better idea of the effects, three different types of alcohol and water will be used. Our hypothesis is that if the alcohol concentration increases, then the liver damage will increase when the liver damage is a function of the alcohol concentration.

The materials in our project will consist of various items. The main materials used for the experiment are female pig livers, basic beer, hard liquor, red wine. We will also need four buckets to put the alcohol and the livers inside. A knife, and T pins are materials we will need

to see the insides of the liver. Napkins or paper towels will also be used to clean up our experiment.
The first step is to obtain the four buckets of the same size and put a pig’s liver inside each of them. The second step is to measure the same amount of liters used for each type of alcohol and for the water. These four substances will serve as our independent variable measured in liters. Then, we will pour the beer in one of the buckets, the hard liquor into another, and the red wine into another. We will also pour the measured water into the last bucket that also contains a liver. After, the buckets have been filled with the same amount of a different substance, the progress of the livers will be noted after a period of time and observations will be made until a month has passed. The damage to the livers will be our dependent variable, which will be measured in grams.
During the experiment, we will make sure to wear personal protective equipment to ensure our safety. Also, to keep us from contracting an infection or disease from the pigs we will need to use gloves so that the pig’s body fluids do not come in contact with our skin. Goggles will also be worn in case that any fluids from the pig livers splash on our eyes. Another step to ensure our protection will be to wear aprons to keep our clothes from being stained by the fluids coming from the pig livers. All of these measures will be taken to ensure that the experiment is performed smoothly and decrease any possible health risks.
Alcohol consumption affects everybody’s body similarly or differently.

Depending on the person’s response to the alcohol, the damage to the liver can result in long-term effects. One of the factors that affect the damage done to the liver is the amount that is consumed by the person during a certain amount of time. Another factor that we will test in order to determine if the liver damage changes is the type of alcohol that the person drinks. In our experiment, we will be using pig livers to test this hypothesis.

A pig’s digestive system functions in a similar way to a human’s, where the process starts with the mouth. During this process, the teeth grind the food while the saliva begins the chemical breakdown. The food travels through the mouth pharynx and down the esophagus, where it connects with the stomach. The stomach breaks down the nutrients in the food, where it is congested. Therefore, this makes the pig's liver the closest to a

human's.
With the liver playing a role in the experiment, addiction also plays a major part when it comes to alcohol.

When the liver consumes alcohol for the first time the body treats it like a negative foreign substance. The consumption of alcohol has a similar effect on every person’s body. The greater the amount of alcohol that a person drinks, the greater the changes of developing some kind of problem with the body. Some research has been done to test how alcohol addiction is classified in individuals. In their experiment, researchers “analyzed the characteristics of 1,484 people participating in the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions who fit the criteria for alcohol dependence” (Elliot, 2007). The analysis found that 31.5% could be considered as “young adult” drinkers that tend to drink less frequently, but when they did, it was to excess and more likely to be involved in dangerous drinking. 19.4% of people could be considered as “functional” drinkers because they earn more money than other drinkers and had a higher chance of having college degrees. Another 18.8% were “intermediate familial” since they had bigger chances of having a disorder or a relative with a similar disorder. According to the study, 21.1% were considered “young antisocial” since they were the most likely to start drinking early and develop alcohol problems. There was also one last category, where 9.2% were labeled as “chronic severe” because they are “most likely to have other

mental health issues, fit the Alcoholics Anonymous definition of alcoholism and have the lowest socioeconomic status” (Elliot, 2007). All of these categories that were created during their study showed how the amount of alcohol consumed, and for how long it was consumed, affected the risk of developing various disorders.
Another similar experiment that has been done before tested the effects that different types of alcohol had on behavior. They tested random people and asked if they thought which would cause a positive reaction and a negative reaction.