Semi-mobile C. elegans electrotaxis assay for movement screening and neural monitoring of Parkinson’s disease models

Youssef, Khaled; Archonta, Daphne; Kubiseski, Terrance J.; Tandon, Anurag; Rezai, Pouya

doi:10.1016/j.snb.2020.128064

Cited by 6 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 42 publications

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“…The taxis behaviors indicate that C. elegans orients in a certain direction to chase prey while avoiding toxic substances or to attenuate undesired impulses of ASJ and ASH neurons. [ 51 ] In exploring these areas further, we aim to improve the ability to control multi‐modal locomotion of C. elegans and develop applications such as drug screening in therapeutic technologies for the healthcare industry. In previous study regarding the drug screening, drug effect was investigated by treating a specific drug and examining recovered electrotaxis ability of C. elegans with a neuronal disorder.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Multi‐Modal Locomotion of Caenorhabditis elegans by Magnetic Reconfiguration of 3D Microtopography

et al. 2022

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Miniaturized untethered soft robots are recently exploited to imitate multi‐modal curvilinear locomotion of living creatures that perceive change of surrounding environments. Herein, the use of Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans) is proposed as a microscale model capable of curvilinear locomotion with mechanosensing, controlled by magnetically reconfigured 3D microtopography. Static entropic microbarriers prevent C. elegans from randomly swimming with the omega turns and provide linear translational locomotion with velocity of ≈0.14 BL s−1. This velocity varies from ≈0.09 (for circumventing movement) to ≈0.46 (for climbing) BL s−1, depending on magnetic bending and twisting actuation coupled with assembly of microbarriers. Furthermore, different types of neuronal mutants prevent C. elegans from implementing certain locomotion modes, indicating the potential for investigating the correlation between neurons and mechanosensing functions. This strategy promotes a platform for the contactless manipulation of miniaturized biobots and initiates interdisciplinary research for investigating sensory neurons and human diseases.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Multi‐Modal Locomotion of Caenorhabditis elegans by Magnetic Reconfiguration of 3D Microtopography

et al. 2022

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“…Imaging of worms inside the device was done by an upright microscope (Leica MZ10F fluorescence microscope, Leica, Wetzlar, Germany). The mono-layer device was fabricated from (PDMS) using conventional soft lithography [ 33 , 34 ] and irreversible bonding to a glass slide using O 2 plasma [ 23 ] (see Appendix A for details). Our device consisted of four-channel sections, each 60

m-thick, as shown in Figure 2 B, i.e., (1) branching channels for worm loading and distribution; (2) 16 parallel 300

m-wide electrotaxis screening channels; (3) tapering channels, from 40 to 20

m, for worm immobilization and imaging; and (4) branching channels for unloading the worms.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The electrotaxis swimming speed and body bend frequency (BBF) were quantified using the automated Worm Tracker plugin in ImageJ software [ 37 ]. The electrotaxis turning time (ETT) and electrotaxis time index (ETI) [ 23 , 27 ] were calculated for all conditions and averaged over the three electric field exposure cycles. ETT is the time at which the worm successfully performed a complete turn after an electric field reversal and started to swim towards the cathode.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In addition to the natural behaviors of the worm investigated in the papers above, induced responses by different stimuli, such as chemicals, light, temperatures, magnetic fields, and electric fields have also attracted attention [ 8 , 23 , 24 , 25 , 26 ]. For instance, Salam et al [ 27 ] exploited the innate response of C. elegans towards the cathode under the effect of a direct current (DC) electric field in a microchannel, termed electrotaxis [ 28 ], as an on-demand method for drug testing.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Parallel-Channel Electrotaxis and Neuron Screening of Caenorhabditis elegans

et al. 2020

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In this paper, we report a novel microfluidic method to conduct a Caenorhabditis elegans electrotaxis movement assay and neuronal imaging on up to 16 worms in parallel. C. elegans is a model organism for neurodegenerative disease and movement disorders such as Parkinson’s disease (PD), and for screening chemicals that alleviate protein aggregation, neuronal death, and movement impairment in PD. Electrotaxis of C. elegans in microfluidic channels has led to the development of neurobehavioral screening platforms, but enhancing the throughput of the electrotactic behavioral assay has remained a challenge. Our device consisted of a hierarchy of tree-like channels for worm loading into 16 parallel electrotaxis screening channels with equivalent electric fields. Tapered channels at the ends of electrotaxis channels were used for worm immobilization and fluorescent imaging of neurons. Parallel electrotaxis of worms was first validated against established single-worm electrotaxis phenotypes. Then, mutant screening was demonstrated using the NL5901 strain, carrying human α-synuclein in the muscle cells, by showing the associated electrotaxis defects in the average speed, body bend frequency (BBF), and electrotaxis time index (ETI). Moreover, chemical screening of a PD worm model was shown by exposing the BZ555 strain, expressing green fluorescence protein (GFP) in the dopaminergic neurons (DNs), to 6-hydroxydopamine neurotoxin. The neurotoxin-treated worms exhibited a reduction in electrotaxis swimming speed, BBF, ETI, and DNs fluorescence intensity. We envision our technique to be used widely in C. elegans-based movement disorder assays to accelerate behavioral and cellular phenotypic investigations.

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“…In addition, C. elegans is the first multicellular model organism to have its entire gene sequenced [ 7 , 13 – 15 ]. Also, it has high-level behavioral phenotypes such as chemotaxis [ 16 – 19 ], electrotaxis [ 16 , 20 – 28 ], and learning and memory [ 29 – 31 ], making it a unique value in biology genetics. C. elegans has transparent bodies and is ideal for optical in vivo imaging [ 32 – 38 ], making it convenient for neuron fluorescent labeling and imaging [ 7 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Microfluidic-Assisted Caenorhabditis elegans Sorting: Current Status and Future Prospects

Yuan

Duan

et al. 2023

Cyborg Bionic Syst

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Caenorhabditis elegans ( C. elegans ) has been a popular model organism for several decades since its first discovery of the huge research potential for modeling human diseases and genetics. Sorting is an important means of providing stage- or age-synchronized worm populations for many worm-based bioassays. However, conventional manual techniques for C. elegans sorting are tedious and inefficient, and commercial complex object parametric analyzer and sorter is too expensive and bulky for most laboratories. Recently, the development of lab-on-a-chip (microfluidics) technology has greatly facilitated C. elegans studies where large numbers of synchronized worm populations are required and advances of new designs, mechanisms, and automation algorithms. Most previous reviews have focused on the development of microfluidic devices but lacked the summaries and discussion of the biological research demands of C. elegans , and are hard to read for worm researchers. We aim to comprehensively review the up-to-date microfluidic-assisted C. elegans sorting developments from several angles to suit different background researchers, i.e., biologists and engineers. First, we highlighted the microfluidic C. elegans sorting devices' advantages and limitations compared to the conventional commercialized worm sorting tools. Second, to benefit the engineers, we reviewed the current devices from the perspectives of active or passive sorting, sorting strategies, target populations, and sorting criteria. Third, to benefit the biologists, we reviewed the contributions of sorting to biological research. We expect, by providing this comprehensive review, that each researcher from this multidisciplinary community can effectively find the needed information and, in turn, facilitate future research.

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Semi-mobile C. elegans electrotaxis assay for movement screening and neural monitoring of Parkinson’s disease models

Cited by 6 publications

References 42 publications

Multi‐Modal Locomotion of Caenorhabditis elegans by Magnetic Reconfiguration of 3D Microtopography

Multi‐Modal Locomotion of Caenorhabditis elegans by Magnetic Reconfiguration of 3D Microtopography

Parallel-Channel Electrotaxis and Neuron Screening of Caenorhabditis elegans

Microfluidic-Assisted Caenorhabditis elegans Sorting: Current Status and Future Prospects

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