Graduation Year
2019
Date of Submission
12-2019
Document Type
Open Access Senior Thesis
Degree Name
Bachelor of Arts
Department
Biophysics
Second Department
Physics
Reader 1
Jeff Urbach
Reader 2
Sarah Marzen
Terms of Use & License Information
Rights Information
© 2019 Kelly Watanabe
Abstract
Giardia lamblia is a single-celled protozoan parasite that when ingested, causes diarrheal disease and infects 33% of people in developing countries. Previous studies observe Giardia in water-like fluids, but Giardia's infectious environment consists of viscoelastic mucus in the small intestine. Therefore, Giardia was cultured in viscoelastic fluids, and its population growth was observed in vitro. To create shear-thinning viscoelastic fluids, 0.2% and 0.4% long-chain polyacrylamide (LCPAM) was added to cell culture media. Giardia was cultured in control media, 0.2% LCPAM, and 0.4% LCPAM, and population growth was quantitatively determined over time. Increasing LCPAM concentration resulted in a solution with higher viscosity and elasticity. Experimental results suggest that Giardia growth is delayed in more viscoelastic fluids, but the population adjusts to the viscoelastic environments over time.
Recommended Citation
Watanabe, Kelly, "Giardia lamblia growth in viscoelastic fluids" (2019). CMC Senior Theses. 2355.
https://scholarship.claremont.edu/cmc_theses/2355
Included in
Biophysics Commons, Cell Biology Commons, Fluid Dynamics Commons, Parasitic Diseases Commons, Statistical, Nonlinear, and Soft Matter Physics Commons
