Reflex and habituation behavior of Caenorhabditis elegans assessed by a mechanical vibration system and image analysis.

Autor: Yang WH; Department of Medical Laboratory Science and Biotechnology, Yuanpei University of Medical Technology, Hsinchu, Taiwan; Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Hsinchu Branch, Hsinchu, Taiwan., Chen CY; Department of Medical Biotechnology and Laboratory Sciences, College of Medicine, Chang Gung University, Taoyuan, Taiwan., Wang KL; KL Biotech Ltd., New Taipei City, Taiwan., Kwok HL; Department of Medical Laboratory Science and Biotechnology, Yuanpei University of Medical Technology, Hsinchu, Taiwan., Stern A; New York University School of Medicine, New York, USA., Lo SJ; Department of Biomedical Sciences, College of Medicine, Chang Gung University, Taoyuan, Taiwan., Yang HC; Department of Medical Laboratory Science and Biotechnology, Yuanpei University of Medical Technology, Hsinchu, Taiwan. Electronic address: hcyang@mail.ypu.edu.tw.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: Journal of neuroscience methods [J Neurosci Methods] 2019 Dec 01; Vol. 328, pp. 108415. Date of Electronic Publication: 2019 Aug 27.
DOI: 10.1016/j.jneumeth.2019.108415
Abstrakt: Background: The nematode Caenorhabditis elegans is an emerging invertebrate animal model for investigating neuronal functions in behavioral assays. C. elegans mechanosensation was characterized by the use of a constant mechanical stimulation transmitter followed by quantitative imaging.
New Method: C. elegans reflex and habituation behaviors were characterized by mechanical vibration followed by image analysis. A custom-designed system consists of an aluminum alloy Petri dish holder frame coupled with a mechanical vibration buzzer delivering adjustable pulsed vibration to an agar plate. The basal and evoked movements of C. elegans were recorded by a microscopic digital camera followed by quantitative analysis using microscopic imaging software.
Results: Application of the platform in C. elegans was demonstrated with three proof-of-concept experiments: (1) Evaluation of the reflex response stimulated by tapping and mechanical vibration with a mechano-sensation defective mutant. (2) Comparison of the reflex response stimulated by mechanical vibration between wild type and aging mutants. (3) Assessment of the efficacy of the mechanical vibration system on long-term memory for habituation.
Comparison With Existing Methods: Conventional C. elegans mechanosensation techniques depend on stimulation either by manually touching a single animal or tapping the Petri dish followed by scoring via visual observation from the examiner. The mechanical vibration method has greater capacity compared to conventional methods which are labor-intensive, have low throughput and lack quantifiable parameters.
Conclusions: The mechanical vibration system followed by image analysis is a convenient and integrated platform for investigatingC. elegans reflex and habituation in aging and neural behavioral assays.
(Copyright © 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)
Databáze: MEDLINE
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