1. Caenorhabditis elegans (strain CL2355) from the University of Minnesota (CGC). These invertebrates are the central component of the experiment because they are the subjects that the heat-shock will be administered to.

2. Incubator (2) - for heat shocking methods from MidSci (online purchase): LabDoctor Digital Incubator. These incubators are essential to main a control with steady temperatures in one, and a second incubator to administer the heat-shock to the C. elegans.

1. Congo red dye - to highlight the plaques, from HelloBio online purchase (Congo Red HB0737). This dye is important for the project because it will help measure the data collected. This dye highlights the AB plaques, which is the data we are gathering and analyzing.

Additional Information

(intro cont.) The history of AD centralizes around Dr. Alois Alzheimer who discovered that her patients died from an unusual mental illness, and when she examined the brain tissue, she discovered clumps, which is now known as amyloid beta plaques. These plaques are groups of folded proteins that have formed a shape and stuck together, and they continue to spread as the disease progresses as well. However, the function of these plaques as well as their cause is undetermined.

Additionally, the specific strain of C. elegans that are being used to share most of the genes that humans have, relating to AD. According to Frontiers in Genetics, the “genes in which mutations are correlated with AD have counterparts in C. elegans, including an APP-related gene, apl-1, a tau homolog, ptl-1, and presenilin homologs, such as sel-12 and hop-1,” (Alexander et al, 1). The specific strain that is being experimented with is strain CL2355, which shows deficits in learning, memory, and has a pan-neuronal expression of the human amyloid beta plaque. Since the amyloid beta plaques can be enhanced or developed in the C. elegans due to certain conditions, it is ideal that this strand is used for this experiment. The transgene that this strain of C. elegans shares with humans in regards to amyloid plaques is “pCL45 (Psnb-1::SP::Aβ1–42::long 3′ UTR),” (Lublin, Link, ). As far as incubating the C. elegans, they will be placed in incubation at a temperature of 37 degrees Celsius, because that is the ideal temperature for a proper heat shock, studies show, that will not kill the C. elegans upon incubation. This extreme temperature will allow this experiment to occur rapidly because “at 37°C the lethal dose occurs within hours for all growth stages, which allows a heat shock regimen to be easily conducted in a day,” (Zevian, Yanowitz, 1). Another major component in the experiment is Congo red dye. Congo red dye will be used to highlight the plaque production in the C. elegans since it is an amyloid plaque detection dye. Before beginning the experiment, Congo red dye will be used to highlight the amyloid plaque build up, if any, in the C. elegans before being stressed. After incubation, the C. elegans will be injected with the dye to highlight the plaque buildup again. When this occurs, the C. elegans will be put under a dissecting scope, and the plaque buildup will be analyzed.