United States, 39.76, -98.5United States, Georgia, Fulton County, Atlanta, 33.749, -84.38798Derrett, Breän2017Caenorhabditis elegans is a microscopic nematode with a very simple nervous system of only 302 neurons. Making C. elegans a great model organism for the study of the neurological effects that alcohol and other drugs can have on the nervous system. The behavioral consequences of these effects were under investigation during this experiment by determining how different durations and concentrations of ethanol exposure during development from egg to adulthood, can alter the wildtype responses and behaviors of these nematodes. C. elegans was exposed to ethanol at concentrations of 50mM, 250mM, 400mM, and 500mM by placing them on pre-treated plates in long term exposure assays for 48 hours or in Eppendorf tubes with the concentrations of ethanol in the short term exposure assays for 2 hours. To monitor the effects of ethanol on development, the worms at each life cycle stage were counted after 48 hours in the long term exposure assay. In three other assays, their spontaneous reversals, pharyngeal pumps and response to touch were also observed to study the effect that the ethanol treatment may have had on their normal behavior. In the long term exposure assay the worms in the 250mM, 400mM and 500mM groups had a much slower rate of development to the L4 stage than the control. Decreased activity level in the short term assay in terms of pharyngeal pumping, spontaneous reversal body movement, and response to touch were observed as the concentrations of exposure ot ethanol got closer to 400mM and 500 mM. In the long term exposure assay, this decrease in activity was less drastic than the short term exposure and may be indicative of ethanol tolerance with prolonged exposure. These results indicate that the longer and more concentrated the exposure to ethanol, the more effect it may have on C. elegans developmentally and behaviorally.application/pdfenghttp://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC-EDU/1.0/Enhancing Global Research and Education in STEM at Spelman College (G-STEM)ScienceTechnology--Study and teachingCaenorhabditis elegans as a model for studying the effects of alcohol on behavior and development, 2017Text