A spiral microfluidic device for rapid sorting, trapping, and long-term live imaging of Caenorhabditis elegans embryos

Abstract

Caenorhabditis elegans embryos have been widely used to study cellular processes and developmental regulation at early stages. However, most existing microfluidic devices focus on the studies of larval or adult worms rather than embryos. To accurately study the real-time dynamics of embryonic development under different conditions, many technical barriers must be overcome; these can include single-embryo sorting and immobilization, precise control of the experimental environment, and long-term live imaging of embryos. This paper reports a spiral microfluidic device for effective sorting, trapping, and long-term live imaging of single C. elegans embryos under precisely controlled experimental conditions. The device successfully sorts embryos from a mixed population of C. elegans at different developmental stages via Dean vortices generated inside a spiral microchannel and traps the sorted embryos at single-cell resolution through hydrodynamic traps on the sidewall of the spiral channel for long-term imaging. Through the well-controlled microenvironment inside the microfluidic device, the response of the trapped C. elegans embryos to mechanical and chemical stimulation can be quantitatively measured. The experimental results show that a gentle hydrodynamic force would induce faster growth of embryos, and embryos developmentally arrested in the high-salinity solution could be rescued by the M9 buffer. The microfluidic device provides new avenues for easy, rapid, high-content screening of C. elegans embryos.

Design of an automated robotic microinjection system for batch injection of zebrafish embryos and larvae

“…With the rapid development of micro/nanotechnology tools, numerous micromanipulators, including microarrays 1 , 2 , microfluidic chips 3 , 4 , microinjectors 5 , 6 , and microgrippers 7 – 9 , are being widely utilized in biomedical devices 10 , 11 , material science 12 – 14 , and microelectromechanical systems 15 , 16 . As an efficient method of transporting external substances into cells, microinjection plays a crucial role in biological experiments.…”

Deep Learning for Microfluidic-Assisted Caenorhabditis elegans Multi-Parameter Identification Using YOLOv7

“…In recent years, the advancements of lab-on-a-chip (microfluidics) have made it a promising platform for facilitating various studies, such as microinjection and drug screening [ 24 ]. Microfluidic chips are well suited for C. elegans studies due to their highly matched dimensions (in the hundreds of microns to a few millimeters) [ 25 , 26 , 27 , 28 ]. In addition, they have the advantages of low cost, good biocompatibility, and easy operation [ 29 , 30 ].…”