Microfluidic Platform for Combinatorial Screening of Chemicals in Caenorhabditis elegans

摘要

The nematode Caernorhabditis elegans (C. elegans) is a well-known model organism for research on behavior and development. In particular, its chemosensory system has been widely investigated to understand chemosensation, chemotaxis, and how a stimulus is processed to trigger a specific behavior. Many studies have focused on one specific molecule and its chemosensory neuron associated but, to approach situations closer to real environment, multiple stimuli must be considered. However, investigating the effects of multiple chemical stimuli reveals to be challenging, not only because of the large panel of molecules that the nematode senses, but also because the chemicals work in a concentration-dependent manner and may present synergistic effects. Conventional methods are not adapted to fulfill this task, because of the high consumption of reagents, and therefore a new technology is required to enable such a project.