Red Bull Daphnia Experiment

The experiment studies the effects of Red Bull and its major components on the heart rate of a Daphnia. The experiment focuses on the effects of conditions on the cardiovascular system. The Cardiovascular system is responsible for the transport of blood, oxygen, nutrients and waste circulating the body. It consists of the heart, vessels, and blood as in closed circulatory system and hemolymph in open circulatory system, the cardiovascular system is also responsible for thermoregulation in the body. (Gonzalez, 2012). The heart helps pump blood to the lungs and rest of the body. The pumping of heart or the contraction and relaxation of heart determines the heart rate and depends on multiple chemicals that we could influence by using stimulants, depressants, varying temperatures, aerobic, and anaerobic

conditions. In this experiment, we will be investigating a stimulant (Red Bull) and its constituents and study its effects on the cardiovascular system. Red Bull is a long known stimulant that increases heart rate. There have been many studies stating Red Bull caffeine content is equal to a cup of coffee, yet Red Bull is a much stronger stimulant. The significant of this study is that we wish to investigate what makes Red Bull a stronger stimulator compared to coffee, we will be testing its components (sugar, coffee, and salt) individually and in combination in order to understand their effects. Red bull’s main components are caffeine (80mg), Sugar (27g), and Sodium (100mg); most of these components play part in the stimulation. Under stimulating conditions, the heart rate increases. This is because a stimulant influences the sympathetic nervous system that is responsible for our fight or flight, higher heart rates, and alertness. When the sympathetic nervous system is stimulated it send more signals to the ventricles and requires the ventricles to contract more rapidly and thus increase the heart rate which is due to increase in calcium ions entering the cell (Silverthorn, 2010).

Also, we learned that depressants decrease the heart rate because they influence the parasympathetic nervous system which responsible for the rest and digest and depress the sympathetic nervous system (Silverthorn, 2010). The main stimulator in Red Bull is caffeine, it functions by blocking the effects of the adenosine, a brain chemical involved in sleep. When caffeine blocks adenosine, it causes firing of neurons that stimulate the sympathetic system, that triggers "fight or flight" response by releasing adrenaline. Adrenaline is a hormone that increases the heart rate and dilate the eye; another effect of Caffeine is changing the levels of dopamine, responsible for pleasure in the brain (Kollmorgen, 2011). We will be comparing the components individually to the baseline, we will also be testing the components in combination compared to their results individually and baseline. Our baseline will be aged tap

water. Our subject in this experiment is Daphnia Magna, it was chosen because it is the most suitable organism for the