The Effect of 0.05 mg of Vitamin D3 on Inhibition of the T2 Coliphage

This project relates to viruses and alternative treatment options. Because viruses and antiretroviral therapy are harmful to humans and unaffordable to many, homeopathic treatments have become increasingly popular. High-dose vitamin D is said to have antiviral properties through its active metabolite, calcitriol. However, there is not much research surrounding alternative treatments, and many are under speculation. I chose this topic because I’m interested in viruses and current treatment methods versus natural/homeopathic methods.

To begin, I prepared media plates using tryptone base layer agar. Then, I inoculated soft agar tubes with bacteria and prepared a dilution series with coliphage T2. Plate dilutions were as follows: (P1) 10^4+Vit D, (P2) 10^3+Vit D, (P3) 10^3, (P4) 10^2+Vit D, (P5) 10^1+Vit D, (P6) 10^1. Next, I inoculated the soft agar tubes with the specified amount of virus. Then, I added 0.05 mg of Vitamin D₃ to the specified soft agar tubes and prepared the experimental and control agar layer plates. Upon completion, I incubated all finished plates. After forty-eight hours, I took data, which included counting the number of viral plaques and calculating the titer of each petri dish.

After data collection, there were discrepancies. My hypothesis could not be rejected nor accepted because of experimental variance. If further study was possible, proper equipment would need to be obtained to help eliminate variance. In addition, the dosage of vitamin D₃ would need to be adequately adjusted for each dilution. Finally, more trials would be absolutely necessary if I were to conduct this project again.