| Title: | Microfluidic chamber arrays for whole-organism behavior-based chemical screening |
| Author(s): | Chung K; Zhan M; Srinivasan J; Sternberg PW; Gong E; Schroeder FC; Lu H; |
| Address: | "School of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, 311 Ferst Dr, NW, Atlanta, GA, 30332-0100, USA. Interdisciplinary Program of Bioengineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, 311 Ferst Dr, NW, Atlanta, GA, 30332-0100, USA. MC156-29, Biology Division, California Institute of Technology, 1200 East California Blvd, Pasadena, CA, 91125, USA. Boyce Thompson Institute and Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, 14853, USA" |
| ISSN/ISBN: | 1473-0189 (Electronic) 1473-0197 (Print) 1473-0189 (Linking) |
| Abstract: | "The nematode Caenorhabditis elegans is an important model organism in genetic research and drug screening because of its relative simplicity, ease of maintenance, amenability to simple genetic manipulation, and relevance to human biology. However, their small size and mobility make nematodes difficult to physically manipulate, particularly with spatial and temporal precision. We have developed a microfluidic device to overcome these challenges and enable fast behavior-based chemical screening in C. elegans. The key components of this easy-to-use device allow rapid loading and housing of C. elegans in a chamber array for chemical screening. A simple two-step loading process enables simultaneous loading of a large number of animals within a few minutes without using any expensive/active off-chip components. In addition, chemicals can be precisely delivered to the worms and exchanged with high temporal precision. To demonstrate this feature and the ability to measure time dependent responses to chemicals, we characterize the transient response of worms exposed to different concentrations of anesthetics. We then use the device to study the effect of chemical signals from hermaphrodite worms on male behavior. The ability of the device to maintain a large number of free moving animals in one field of view over a long period of time permits us to demonstrate an increase in the incidence of a specific behavior in males subjected to worm-conditioned medium. Because our device allows monitoring of a large number of worms with single-animal resolution, we envision that this platform will greatly expedite chemical screening in C. elegans" |
| Keywords: | "Animals Caenorhabditis elegans/*drug effects Drug Evaluation, Preclinical/*instrumentation Male Microfluidic Analytical Techniques/*instrumentation Sex Attractants/*pharmacology;" |
| Notes: | "MedlineChung, Kwanghun Zhan, Mei Srinivasan, Jagan Sternberg, Paul W Gong, Emily Schroeder, Frank C Lu, Hang eng R01 GM088290/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ England 2011/09/22 Lab Chip. 2011 Nov 7; 11(21):3689-3697. doi: 10.1039/c1lc20400a. Epub 2011 Sep 20" |
