NeuroChip: a microfluidic electrophysiological device for genetic and chemical biology screening of Caenorhabditis elegans adult and larvae

Hu, C. , Dillon, J., Kearn, J., Murray, C., O’Connor, V., Holden-Dye, L. and Morgan, H. (2013) NeuroChip: a microfluidic electrophysiological device for genetic and chemical biology screening of Caenorhabditis elegans adult and larvae. PLoS ONE, 8(5), e64297. (doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0064297) (PMID:23717588) (PMCID:PMC3661448)

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Abstract

Genetic and chemical biology screens of C. elegans have been of enormous benefit in providing fundamental insight into neural function and neuroactive drugs. Recently the exploitation of microfluidic devices has added greater power to this experimental approach providing more discrete and higher throughput phenotypic analysis of neural systems. Here we make a significant addition to this repertoire through the design of a semi-automated microfluidic device, NeuroChip, which has been optimised for selecting worms based on the electrophysiological features of the pharyngeal neural network. We demonstrate this device has the capability to sort mutant from wild-type worms based on high definition extracellular electrophysiological recordings. NeuroChip resolves discrete differences in excitatory, inhibitory and neuromodulatory components of the neural network from individual animals. Worms may be fed into the device consecutively from a reservoir and recovered unharmed. It combines microfluidics with integrated electrode recording for sequential trapping, restraining, recording, releasing and recovering of C. elegans. Thus mutant worms may be selected, recovered and propagated enabling mutagenesis screens based on an electrophysiological phenotype. Drugs may be rapidly applied during the recording thus permitting compound screening. For toxicology, this analysis can provide a precise description of sub-lethal effects on neural function. The chamber has been modified to accommodate L2 larval stages showing applicability for small size nematodes including parasitic species which otherwise are not tractable to this experimental approach. We also combine NeuroChip with optogenetics for targeted interrogation of the function of the neural circuit. NeuroChip thus adds a new tool for exploitation of C. elegans and has applications in neurogenetics, drug discovery and neurotoxicology.

Item Type:Articles
Additional Information:James Dillon and Caitriona Murray were funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) UK Grant numbers BB/E022251/1 and BB/F009208/1.
Status:Published
Refereed:Yes
Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID:Hu, Dr Chunxiao
Authors: Hu, C., Dillon, J., Kearn, J., Murray, C., O’Connor, V., Holden-Dye, L., and Morgan, H.
College/School:College of Science and Engineering > School of Engineering > Electronics and Nanoscale Engineering
Journal Name:PLoS ONE
Publisher:Public Library of Science
ISSN:1932-6203
ISSN (Online):1932-6203
Published Online:22 May 2013
Copyright Holders:Copyright © 2013 Hu et al.
First Published:First published in PLos ONE 8(5):e64297
Publisher Policy:Reproduced under a creative commons license

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