PMID- 23719845
OWN - NLM
STAT- MEDLINE
DCOM- 20140127
LR  - 20130702
IS  - 1473-0189 (Electronic)
IS  - 1473-0189 (Linking)
VI  - 13
IP  - 15
DP  - 2013 Aug 7
TI  - Immobilization of the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans with addressable 
      light-induced heat knockdown (ALINK).
PG  - 2980-9
LID - 10.1039/c3lc50454a [doi]
AB  - Caenorhabditis (C.) elegans is a model animal used in genetics, neuroscience, and 
      developmental biology. Researchers often immobilize squirming worms to obtain 
      high-quality images for analysis. However, current methods usually require 
      physical contact or anesthetics. This can cause injuries to worm bodies or neuron 
      disturbances. This study presents an alternative technique, called addressable 
      light-induced heat knockdown (ALINK), to effectively immobilize worms by using 
      light-induced sublethal heat. A microchip composed of an indium-tin-oxide (ITO) 
      glass plate and an ITO glass plate coated with a photoconductive layer (a-Si:H) 
      was produced. Worms to be immobilized were immersed in a liquid medium and 
      sandwiched between the two plates. When the worms were irradiated with a focused 
      laser beam in the presence of electric fields (referred to as an optoelectric 
      treatment), the optoelectric effect heated the liquid medium. The neural 
      functions of the worms shut down temporarily when a critical temperature (>31  degrees C) 
      was reached. Their neural functions resumed after the heat source was removed. A 
      temperature above 37  degrees C killed all worms. Using short-wavelength light reduced 
      the worms' recovery time. An equivalent circuit was modeled to predict the 
      operating modes, and an optoelectric treatment with a high-concentration medium 
      enhanced rapid heating. A safe operating range (20 Vpp (peak-to-peak voltage), 
      100 kHz to 10 MHz, 31 to 37  degrees C) to induce heat knockdown (KD) was also 
      investigated. The results show that the heat KD was well controlled, autonomous, 
      and reversible. This technique can be used for worm immobilization.
FAU - Chuang, Han-Sheng
AU  - Chuang HS
AD  - Department of Biomedical Engineering, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, 
      Taiwan. oswaldchuang@mail.ncku.edu.tw
FAU - Chen, Hsiang-Yu
AU  - Chen HY
FAU - Chen, Chang-Shi
AU  - Chen CS
FAU - Chiu, Wen-Tai
AU  - Chiu WT
LA  - eng
PT  - Journal Article
PT  - Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
PL  - England
TA  - Lab Chip
JT  - Lab on a chip
JID - 101128948
SB  - IM
MH  - Animals
MH  - Caenorhabditis elegans/*physiology
MH  - Electricity
MH  - Equipment Design
MH  - Hot Temperature
MH  - *Lab-On-A-Chip Devices
MH  - Lasers
MH  - Light
MH  - Neurons/physiology
EDAT- 2013/05/31 06:00
MHDA- 2014/01/28 06:00
CRDT- 2013/05/31 06:00
PHST- 2013/05/31 06:00 [entrez]
PHST- 2013/05/31 06:00 [pubmed]
PHST- 2014/01/28 06:00 [medline]
AID - 10.1039/c3lc50454a [doi]
PST - ppublish
SO  - Lab Chip. 2013 Aug 7;13(15):2980-9. doi: 10.1039/c3lc50454a.