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Microfluidics for in vivo imaging of neuronal and behavioral activity in Caenorhabditis elegans

Nature Methods volume 4, pages 727–731 (2007)Cite this article

Abstract

The nematode C. elegans is an excellent model organism for studying behavior at the neuronal level. Because of the organism's small size, it is challenging to deliver stimuli to C. elegans and monitor neuronal activity in a controlled environment. To address this problem, we developed two microfluidic chips, the 'behavior' chip and the 'olfactory' chip for imaging of neuronal and behavioral responses in C. elegans. We used the behavior chip to correlate the activity of AVA command interneurons with the worm locomotion pattern. We used the olfactory chip to record responses from ASH sensory neurons exposed to high-osmotic-strength stimulus. Observation of neuronal responses in these devices revealed previously unknown properties of AVA and ASH neurons. The use of these chips can be extended to correlate the activity of sensory neurons, interneurons and motor neurons with the worm's behavior.

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Figure 1: The 'behavior' chip for correlating locomotion patterns with neuronal activity.
Figure 2: The 'olfactory' chip.
Figure 3: Calcium transients in ASH neurons in response to a hyperosmotic stimulus.

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Acknowledgements

We thank S. Leibler for the use of his clean room facility. This work was supported by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and a fellowship from the International Human Frontier Science Program Organization to M.Z. C.I.B. is a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator.

Author information

Author notes

  1. Nikos Chronis

    Present address: Present address: Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Michigan, 2350 Hayward Street, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109, USA.,

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Howard Hughes Medical Institute, The Rockefeller University, 1230 York Avenue, New York, 10021, New York, USA

    Nikos Chronis, Manuel Zimmer & Cornelia I Bargmann

Authors
  1. Nikos Chronis
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  2. Manuel Zimmer
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Contributions

N.C. designed the microfluidic chips, conducted the experiments, interpreted the data and wrote the paper; M.Z. designed and conducted the experiments, interpreted the data and wrote the paper; C.I.B. interpreted the data and wrote the paper.

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Correspondence to Nikos Chronis.

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The authors declare no competing financial interests.

Supplementary information

Supplementary Text and Figures

Supplementary Figures 1–2 (PDF 879 kb)

Supplementary Video 1

AVA calcium transients correlate with the generation of anterior-traveling body waves. (MOV 2355 kb)

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Chronis, N., Zimmer, M. & Bargmann, C. Microfluidics for in vivo imaging of neuronal and behavioral activity in Caenorhabditis elegans. Nat Methods 4, 727–731 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1038/nmeth1075

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