Full Wave Observation

Table 1 was our observation for the control group, or the ChR2- as we called it. Living up to its name, the larvae from this plate did not contract as we increased the MRR, and continued to move. Although the number of waves per larva was different, it was higher than the waves produced in Table 2, the ChR2+ group. Larvae from this plate contracted immediately when the light was turned on and only produced waves during the interval the light was not on. Because the light flashed a set amount of times per second, the larva was not able to complete a full wave. This became more evident as the light continued to flash in a shorter time interval as the number of waves decreased as the MRR increased, until finally, when the MRR is set at 2 Hz, the
light was constant. The larvae were not able to move at all within the 15 seconds we observed them, thus supporting our hypothesis. This experiment was also conducted by Schroll et al. who used blue light to determine whether muscle contraction would occur in the Drosophila larvae, which they found to be true. Furthermore, Schroll et al. and Suh et al. used ChR2 to conduct an olfactory response in the larvae when under blue light, and again, showed positive results that the larvae produced a response. This correlates to our unknown plates because plates 10 and 12 showed no response when under the blue light, however, plate 11 clearly showed muscle contraction as represented by Table 3. Using light to induce a response is evidently a beneficial technique if used to help people, as drugs are too slow acting while electricity can be inaccurate. However, optogenetics is fast and precise, allowing an immediate response which can significantly help researchers develop treatments to combat illnesses.