Does caffeine affect heart rate?

Does caffeine have an effect on heart rate?

9/25/2013 Jack Howley

Does caffeine affect heart rate?

Aim
An investigation into the effect caffeine has on heart rate.

Introduction
Caffeine is a stimulant that is widely consumed all over the world. The effects it has on the body include alertness, increased metabolic rate, anxiety and increased blood pressure. Caffeine works because it attaches to the receptors for adenosine, the chemical which causes drowsiness and nerve cells to slow down. Caffeine doesnt cause the cell to slow down however so the cell actually speeds up, increasing awareness. It also causes blood vessels to constrict, potentially reducing headaches. Daphnia or water fleas are small invertebrates that inhabit a wide range of environments including acidic lakes and freshwater ponds. Because daphnia have a relatively translucent body, they can be easily observed underneath a microscope, with bodily functions easy to view. Because of this, they can be easily observed to see what effects drugs such as alcohol and caffeine have on the body. Daphnia can reproduce asexually but can also mate to form fertilized eggs. This process only happens in the winter as the eggs are more likely to survive than asexually produced daphnia. Because the can reproduce so quickly, usually a new daphnia every 10 days, this makes them an excellent test subject for drugs and toxins as the effects can be observed and the species wont be damaged. Daphnia can live from 1 month to 6 months, depending on temperature and food supply. The females usually live longer as they have to reproduce. Similar experiments have been done on spiders. The effects of LSD, marijuana and caffeine on spiders ability to build webs showed it had a significant effect as the webs were disordered and lacked any structure. This experiment, performed by P.N.Witt, concluded that certain drugs have an effect on the mind and body. Other experiments were performed on worms and beetles with a conclusion that caffeine could be used as a pesticide against insects as too much can be lethal. This experiment provides a basic look at what effect drugs have on heart rate which can be transferred to humans so it allows for accurate predictions on the human body. This is much safer than testing on humans as humans have a consciousness and are not as easily replaced. Using invertebrates means that because they dont have a conscious, they are easily replaced and they have a short lifespan.

Hypothesis
If the concentration of caffeine changes, then I expect the heart rate of the daphnia to increase. The heart rate will increase as the caffeine concentration increases until the concentration becomes toxic.

Does caffeine affect heart rate?

Variables
The variable that we will be changing in this experiment will be the concentration of caffeine given to the daphnia. The variable we will be measuring is the BPM of the daphnias heart. The control variables we tried to keep the same throughout the experiment are the temperature of the slides as the microscope light got quite hot. To minimize this, we only used the light a soon as the daphnia were put on. This meant they were exposed to it for minimum time so as not to affect the results too much. We tried to keep the time they were under the light similar so the heat doesnt affect our results too much. We also kept the person measuring the heart rate the same so we dont get varied results from people counting beats wrong. All the daphnia come from the same sample of water so the pH wont be varied and mainly the same.

Safety and Ethical Considerations

Because we were using glass slides, there was a potential for them to snap or break and cut or splinter the skin. This an important safety issue, as the slides have pond water on and could infect the wound. To reduce this risk, we handled them with care and gentle placed them to avoid breaking them. If any glass slides did break, then they would go straight into the glass bin to avoid cuts and splinters. Another risk is the fact we used pond water, which could contain bacteria. If this was drank or found a way into the body, it could potentially cause an illness. To reduce this risk and avoid it, everybody would wash their hands after handling the water, so that most bacteria were destroyed and there was much less a risk of catching an illness. Another hazard involving water is the risk of spillage, which if not cleaned up, can cause a slipping hazard. Slipping up while carrying slides could have dangerous outcome so to avoid this, any spillage was immediately wiped up and cleaned to avoid this happening. The microscope light was used frequently so it can get hot, which could possibly cause burns and also damage the eyes as it was bright. To reduce this, we left the light on only when we needed it so it didnt get too hot and had chance to cool down. This also minimized the risk of damaging the eyes as the light was only left on when needed and remained off when it wasnt needed. When the experiment was finished, we left the light to cool down to reduce the risk of burns. Goggles were also worn to prevent caffeine and pond water from contaminating and potentially injuring us. Caffeine and pond water could potentially get into the eye and cause damage to the eyes. Goggles prevent this because they put a barrier between the water and the eyes, stopping anything from getting into the eyes. Some people may consider it ethically wrong for testing on daphnia as they are living beings and have rights. However because the daphnia reproduce so quickly and they have no obvious signs of a consciousness, they dont really have many rights and they make good indicators of what effects drugs have due to their translucent body. Because most bodily functions are visible easily, it gives a good idea about the effects of certain substances.

Does caffeine affect heart rate?

Apparatus and Justification
- Measuring Cylinder - Glass slides - 300x microscope - 2.5ml pipette - Goggles - 50ml Beaker - Daphnia Pipette/ Wide end pipette We used a 10cm3 cylinder because it has an error uncertainty of 1% and it allows us to easily make concentrations up. The glass slides had concave circles on them to contain the daphnia and to make sure they couldnt move off the slide. Also, because it was concave, the microscope couldnt crush the daphnia. The pipette we used was accurate to about 0.5ml and we used this as we wanted very small amounts of caffeine to make the lower concentrations. The goggles protected used from getting any pond water or caffeine in the eyes as this would cause injury and a safety hazard. The 50ml beakers held our solutions of caffeine and allowed us to quickly access them for the experiment instead of having to mix them during the experiment. The daphnia pipette allowed us to collect daphnia without injuring them or killing them as this would cause our experiment inaccuracies.

Method
Concentrations were prepared and put into beakers so that are experiment wasnt stop starting. The daphnia were collected and one or two were put on each slide, and then surrounded by cotton wool to prevent them moving out of the sight of the microscope. Caffeine solution was then dropped onto the daphnia to make sure maximum amount was taken in. The heart rate was then measured for 15 seconds. By multiplying this result by 4 we get the BPM of the daphnia for this solution. We do this for all 5 solutions and can do repeats so to get an average BPM for that solution. Inaccuracies can occur such as from using different daphnia due to caffeine taking an hour to be completely removed from the system. Different daphnia may have different resting heart beats so results may vary a little because of this. This is a random error that cant really be changed unless one specific daphnia was kept until its heart rate returned to normal and different caffeine samples were tested each time.

Does caffeine affect heart rate?

Results
Caffeine concentration (%) Control 20 40 60 80 100 Trial 1 30 57 62 69 86 98 Number of Heart Beats in 15s Trial Trial Trial Trial Average 2 3 4 5 30 29 31 30 30 55 54 56 48 55.5 61 60 63 61 61.4 74 65 72 71 71.5 91 90 89 90 90 99 99 96 97 97.8 Heart rate in one minute (BPM) 120 222 246 286 360 391

Above are the results for the experiment showing the heart rate of daphnia given different percentages of caffeine solution.

Graph
126/40=3.15 124/40=3.1 Average Gradient = 3.125 Using my line of best fit and creating gradient triangles, I have worked out that as the caffeine solution increases by 1%, the daphnia heart rate increases by about 3.125 BPM. Also, using error bars, I can determine if my results are accurate or not. By looking at my graph I can say that my results for 20% and 60% were not accurate at all and would need to be repeated to guarantee a more reliable result. However by using averages, I have reduced that error percent because I have taken all results into account.

Validity Reliability
Each trial for the caffeine solution was repeated 5 times to try and provide accurate and consistent results. Also by using a longer time frame to measure them, 15 seconds instead of 6, it gives a better general result. I have identified at least one anomaly and that is the 20% caffeine solution result. It doesnt fit with the line of best fit and also has the largest error bars. This solution would need to be repeated as the result isnt accurate when compared to the rest of the results. The same person was used in counting the heart beats through the microscope so that if there was an error, it would be on all the results and therefore wouldnt affect the results in anyway. The experiment was repeated 5 times as well so we could accurately know what the result was going to be. This meant we didnt over count the heart rate and make our results less accurate.

Does caffeine affect heart rate?

Precision
Most heart rates were within 2-3 beats of each other; however some of our results were anomalies and were up to 6-7 beats out. This result could affect how accurate our averages were to the true values. A way to improve our averages could have been to have done 7 repeats and take the 5 closest ones so we have a wide range results but also that they are accurate. Most of our results however were within 5 beats of each other so they can be considered accurate; the ones that were further out can be considered anomalies.

Accuracy
The accuracy of our results maybe slightly bias as we knew before the experiment that caffeine was a stimulant and therefore we may have tried to look for an increased heart beat to try and prove that. We dont know the true value for how caffeine affects the heart. However we can assume that as our result were close to one another, 2-3 beats apart, and we are close to, if not on, the true value. Overall I think we can conclude that caffeine does have an effect on heart rate as all trials saw the heart rate was increased from the control heart rate.

Trends and Anomalies

A trend we saw was that the difference between control and 20% concentration saw a massive increase in heart when compared to the other concentrations. The heart rate went up by about 25 beats on average, while the change from 20% to 40% was only 6 beats increase. This could suggest that just the presence of caffeine increases the heart rate by double. By adding stronger and stronger concentrations, it doesnt increase the beats by nearly as much. The heart rate for the rest of the results only increases by about 10-25%. The most obvious trend was that the heart rate increased as more and more concentrated caffeine was added. This confirms our hypothesis and proves that we were correct to assume that. 2 anomalies were detected on my graph, the results for 20% and 60%. These will need to be repeated in order to guarantee a more reliable result on graph. For the line of best fit, these were not taken into account too much as they would have given misleading results. Those results should be repeated and then the slope would have to be recalculated to take those results into consideration as well.

Error
Systematic error of the experiment could have included the concentration of caffeine was actually not what we were told it was. However by using percentages instead of actual amounts, we eliminated this risk as it was based off of 100% concentration. If the caffeine wasnt actually the correct value, our results wont be affected. Another systematic error could have been the person incorrectly identifying the heart of the daphnia. Because they most likely would have looked for their idea of the heart each time, then it would apply to all our results. Therefore all our results would be wrong, leading to the experiment needing to be redone. Because we knew caffeine was a stimulant,

Does caffeine affect heart rate?

we could have been looking for an increased heart rate and actually miscounted the heart rate just to prove the hypothesis right. Because they would have done this for each trial, then it would be present through all our results and not just one or two. One random error that was likely to affect our results was when we added the daphnia to the slide; we added a little pond water as well so the daphnia didnt die. However this extra water was often inconsistent and was likely different amounts each time. This means that the concentrations we added actually werent correct as they may have been diluted a little. There arent many options on how to fix this problem unless proper equipment was used which we dont have access to. Another random error is the fact that a different daphnia was used each time instead of the same one. Each daphnia might have a different heart rate so our results would partially be inaccurate due to each daphnia being different. Age, gender and caffeine tolerance of the daphnia would play the biggest part in what the resting heart rate was. One way to lower this result would be to use the same daphnia. However, caffeine takes about 1-2 hours to be completely removed from the system, time we didnt have. If more time was allowed then this method could have been used as the daphnia would return to resting heart rate each time.

Conclusion
In conclusion, I can say that my hypothesis is true based upon my results. The caffeine molecule blocks the receptor site for the hormone adenosine and speeds up nerve cells, increasing awareness and blood flow of the creature. This is what causes the heart rate to increase and how to tell whether caffeine is a stimulant or not. Because caffeine requires the structure of a complex nerve system to work, this also proves that daphnia arent just simple organisms but have a nervous system similar to ours, which makes them suitable for testing the effects of drugs.

Limitations
Because we measured the heart rate using a piece of paper, the results could have been wrong due to miscounting. We could use a video camera to record the heart rate and then slow it down to count each heartbeat. This would allow us to get a much more accurate result as it would be exactly 60 seconds and every heart beat can be easily counted. We also could have performed an experiment to test the concentration of caffeine before we started the experiment so we knew exactly what amount of caffeine had what effect.

References
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Effect_of_psychoactive_drugs_on_animals http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/caff.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daphnia