Getting on worms’ nerves

Two devices that help researchers correlate nerve cell activity with behaviour in the living worm.
The microscopic worm C. elegans has a very simple nervous system, with only 302 neurons. However, it is difficult to monitor neuronal activity in worms without either using invasive methods or restraining them in an unphysiological way. Nikos Chronis and colleagues present devices which make it possible to use a microscope to monitor nerve activity in intact, live worms. The key is that the worms are enclosed in tiny channels only slightly bigger than the animals, so that they are free to move to some extent, but restrained sufficiently to allow for imaging of the neurons. The trapped worms can also be stimulated in a very controlled fashion by substances delivered at the tip of the animal’s nose, so that their effect on nerve activity can be recorded.
The researchers used these devices to uncover new information about particular neurons involved in movement and sensation in the worm. This may very well pave the way to ever more sophisticated devices, as well as to devices for monitoring other small organisms in physiological and precisely controlled environments.

Author contact:
Nikos Chronis (University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA)
Tel: +1 734 763 0154; E-mail: chronis@umich.edu