fairfolio
Saved Projects
← Back to Explore

Effects of Ampicillin and Amoxicillin Exposure on the Nervous System Regeneration of Schmidtea mediterranea: A Novel Toxicology Assessment with Applications for Global Neonatal Health

JSHS · 2024

Marina Sjoblom, Ms. Allison Hennings · Oak Park and River Forest High School, Oak Park, IL

Overview

Research Ampicillin and amoxicillin are two highly impactful penicillin antibiotics utilized to treat neonatal sepsis and other widespread diseases, improving the health of millions of young individuals across the globe. Recently, human and animal based studies hav e identified an association between early life exposure to first generation penicillins and dysregulation of several neurological pathways. However, this association has not yet been established for ampicillin and amoxicillin, thoroughly tested third generation penicillins related to but chemically different than their first generation counterparts. This experiment utilized a novel animal assessment, the regenerative asexual planarian Schmidtea mediterranea (S. med), to better understand the neurological effects of early life ampicillin and amoxicillin exposure. S. med ChAT (choline acetyltransferase) and sert (serotonin transporter) genetic expression after exposure to ampicillin or amoxicillin during brain regeneration was noted with colorimetric analysis and compared to the genetic expression of a negative control not exposed to any antibiotic. sert clusters were numerically quantified. Ultimately, worms exposed to ampicillin and amoxicillin exhibited no statistical difference in visible sert expression from those without any exposure to antibiotics (Kruskal -Wallis ANOVA, p=0.9623). These findings reflect the results of similar studies and support the safety of ampicillin and amoxicillin. This experiment also investigates the use of S. med to determine the toxicity of certain substances. After further research, these worms have the potential to be utilized as comprehensive developmental toxicology models in commercial and academic settings. Illinois

Competition history

  • JSHS 2024 Category not listed

Resources

Related projects

Closest projects by meaning, across every fair and year in the corpus.

Source: Junior Science and Humanities Symposium

Save projects to your library

Sign in with Google to keep track of projects you find interesting, organized into folders. An account also raises your daily allowance for “Has this been done?”, and lets you create a key for the MCP server with a much higher limit than anonymous use. Browsing stays public.

Continue with Google