Crushing on Nicotine: Daphnia Magna Heart Rate Rises at Low Concentrations

Abstract

This experiment analyzes the nature of nicotine. Our research focuses on nicotine’s effect on the heart rate of Daphnia magna. There is extensive research on the effects of neurotransmitters and narcotics on the human brain but nicotine has always been an enigma because its effects vary depending on the user’s mood and dosage. Our experiment keeps the exposure time constant so we can focus solely on the concentration to categorize nicotine as an agonist or antagonist. We introduced three different Daphnias to 1.0 mM of nicotine and the other three to 10.0 mM of nicotine, and their bpm was recorded at four, eight, twelve, sixtenteen, and twenty minutes. We hope this study will draw interest from those in the biology and psychology field, or anyone interested in the effects of nicotine on myogenic hearts, ultimately shedding more light on the categorization of nicotine and better understand its effects not only in Daphnia but also vertebrates.