Educational Strategies to Prevent Abuse of Household Chemicals

描述（由申请人提供）：吸入剂，包括气雾剂、挥发性液体、气体和亚硝酸盐，已被发现越来越多地用作改变精神状态的药物，特别是在初中生和高中生中。吸入剂对神经系统、肺、肝和循环系统都有毁灭性的影响。该SBIR提案解决了使用Sf9昆虫细胞培养来教授吸入剂对高中生物的影响的需要，该系统因其可负担性，可重复性和相对易用性而适合高中。昆虫细胞将在吸入剂的存在下孵育，细胞毒性由细胞生长和存活决定，以及细胞凋亡和坏死作为细胞死亡形式的测量。我们还将制定与《国家科学教育标准》有关的防止吸入剂滥用的教育战略评估工具。公共卫生相关性：大多数高中没有将昆虫细胞培养用于实验教学活动。虽然细胞培养研究被大量发表，但很少有研究满足高中生物、技术或多学科科学的需要。我们建议以一种也教导人们滥用家庭用品作为毒品的危险的形式提供这些资料。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Inhalants, which include aerosols, volatile liquids, gases, and nitrites, have found increasing use as mind-altering drugs especially among middle school- and high school-aged children. Inhalants have devastating effects on the nervous system, as well as the lungs, liver, and circulatory system. This SBIR proposal addresses the need to teach about the effects of inhalants in high school biology using Sf9 insect cell culture, a system that lends itself to high schools in terms of its affordability, reproducibility, and relative ease of use. Insect cell will be incubated in the presence of inhalants and cells toxicity determined by cell growth and survival, as well as measurements of apoptosis vs. necrosis as the form of cell death. We will also develop assessment tools for educational strategies to prevent abuse of inhalants that are linked to the National Science Education Standards. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: Most high schools have not utilized insect cell culture for laboratory teaching activities. While cell culture studies are copiously published, little has been done to fulfill the needs for high school biology, technology, or multi-disciplinary sciences. We propose to make these available in a format that also teaches the dangers of misuse of household items as drugs.