The egg-counter: a novel microfluidic platform for characterization of Caenorhabditis elegans egg-laying.
Lab Chip
; 24(11): 2975-2986, 2024 05 28.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-38738514
ABSTRACT
Reproduction is a fundamental process that shapes the demography of every living organism yet is often difficult to assess with high precision in animals that produce large numbers of offspring. Here, we present a novel microfluidic research platform for studying Caenorhabditis elegans' egg-laying. The platform provides higher throughput than traditional solid-media behavioral assays while providing a very high degree of temporal resolution. Additionally, the environmental control enabled by microfluidic animal husbandry allows for experimental perturbations difficult to achieve with solid-media assays. We demonstrate the platform's utility by characterizing C. elegans egg-laying behavior at two commonly used temperatures, 15 and 20 °C. As expected, we observed a delayed onset of egg-laying at 15 °C degrees, consistent with published temperature effects on development rate. Additionally, as seen in solid media studies, egg laying output was higher under the canonical 20 °C conditions. While we validated the Egg-Counter with a study of temperature effects in wild-type animals, the platform is highly adaptable to any nematode egg-laying research where throughput or environmental control needs to be maximized without sacrificing temporal resolution.
Texto completo:
1
Coleções:
01-internacional
Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
Temperatura
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Caenorhabditis elegans
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Técnicas Analíticas Microfluídicas
Limite:
Animals
Idioma:
En
Revista:
Lab Chip
Ano de publicação:
2024
Tipo de documento:
Article