Volume 6, Spring 2008 - Saddleback College

Fall 2007 Biology 3A Abstracts
the mice was identical from mouse to mouse
throughout the entire experiment. The mice were fed
mouse food mix provided by Petco, and were given
water through a drip-feed container. Each of the ten
mice was weighed on a balance provided by Canyon
Lake Urgent and Family Care, Canyon Lake,
California. The average weight of adult humans, the
recommended dosage of ginkgo for humans, and the
average weight of the experimental mice group were
used to calculate roughly how much Ginkgo biloba
extract would be needed for the experiment. The
recommended dosage for Ginkgo biloba in humans was
micro scaled at around 0.1 milligrams for each mouse
to more closely simulate a human experiment.
The mice were to be tested on their cognitive
thinking, so a maze had been constructed specifically
for the experiment. The maze was constructed using
poster board received from Office Max, Mission Viejo,
California. At the end of the maze, or the goal box,
there was a piece of cheese that gave the mice
incentive to reach the goal box. The first trial the mice
endured in the maze was the pre-ginkgo trial. Each
mouse was introduced to the maze, and was timed on
how quickly each mouse could complete the maze
using a stopwatch supplied by the experimental
investigator. The maze was thoroughly cleansed
between each of the mice trials throughout the entire
experiment so as to eliminate confounding variables
and to avoid an increase in completion time due to
memory. The mice were not given any training with
the mice preceding the pre-ginkgo trial, so as to
minimize the effect on completion times due to
prolonged exposure to the maze.
The mice were then placed back in their wellventilated
container for the next three days. During this
three day period, the mice were fed as usual, but were
also given a daily 0.1 mg portion of a Ginkoba, a
dietary supplement containing Ginkgo biloba. The
Ginkoba was provided by Canyon Lake Urgent and
Family Care. Ginkoba was administered to the mice by
crushing it and placing it in front of each mouse,
individually, in a separate small container. The extract
would sometimes need to be placed in mouse food in
order for it to be consumed by the mice. After the three
day period, the mice were put through a second trial,
the ginkgo-induced trial. Each mouse was once again
placed in the maze and was timed on how fast they
could reach the goal box. After the second trial, each
mouse was placed back in their container. The maze
was again cleansed between each of the mice trials.
The mice were kept in their well-ventilated
container for another three days after the ginkgoinduced
trial. During this second three day period, the
mice were once again fed normally, but without the
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Saddleback Journal of Biology
Spring 2008
daily 0.1 mg portion of Ginkoba. The mice were then
put through a third and final trial, the post-ginkgo trial.
The mice were again put through the maze and timed
on how fast they could reach the goal box. The maze
was cleaned between mice trials. All data were
transferred to MS Excel (Microsoft Corporation,
Redmond, Washington) where all further calculation
and statistical manipulations were performed. All
experimentation and calculations were done in the
month of November 2007.
Results
The average weight of the mice was recorded
at 28.87 ± 0.26 g (±se, N= 10). The average maze
completion time for the mice during the first trial was
shown at 21.50 ± 0.86 seconds. The second trial, the
ginkgo-induced trial, showed similar completion times.
The average maze completion time for the second trial
came out at 20.81 ± 0.83 g (±se, N= 10). The third trial,
the post-ginkgo trial, also resulted in similar results to
the both previous trials. The average maze completion
time for the third trial came out at 21.04 ± 0.80 g (±se,
N= 10).
Although the averages seemed to stray away
from the tested hypothesis, further analysis was needed
to confirm the results. An ANOVA statistical analysis
test comparing the three performed trials revealed that
there was not a significant decrease in completion time
between the three trials (F =0.180, P = 0.84). The F-
value is a measurement of distance between individual
values, so the low value indicates no significant
difference between the calculated means. The average
completion times for each trial did not show enough
variance to prove a significant difference between the
three trials (Figure 1). These results show that Ginkgo
biloba did not have a significant effect on the cognitive
thinking in mice.
Time (seconds)
25
20
15
10
5
0
Pre-Ginkgo Ginkgo-Induced Post- Ginkgo
Trial
Figure 1. The average completion times are shown for
each trial run. The figure shows that Ginkgo biloba did