Increasing heart rates of Daphnia magna in an excitatory monosodium glutamate solution versus decreasing heart rates in a depressive ethanol solution

Abstract

Several experiments have been done using Daphnia magna to research the effects that different solutions such as ethanol and monosodium glutamate (MSG) may have on the heart. Much like the human heart, D. magna hearts are striated and neurogenic allowing for the comparison between the human heart and D. magna hearts. We exposed D. magnas to ethanol and MSG to observe the effects it may have on the heart rate, which was calculated by counting the heart beats per minute. Monosodiumglutimate significantly increased the heart rate with the highest increase going from 300 bpm to 384 bpm. Ethanol did the opposite and lowered the D. Magnasheart rate.