US scientists have speeded up worm microsurgery to improve our understanding of animal behaviour. 

Hang Lu and Kwanghun Chung from the Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, designed a high throughput microfluidic system that can handle and operate on a worm known as Caenorhabditis elegans. 

Neuroscientists are keen to understand how cells in the brain contribute to an organism's behaviour. By destroying individual neurons using a laser beam (laser ablation) then monitoring the organism's behaviour, they can infer the function of each neuron. They often use C. elegans as a model organism because it is see-through and its anatomy is well known. But C. elegans has a short lifespan and the slow ablation methods currently used mean that worms of different ages are used, which introduces variation into the study. 

Lu and Chung's device has two sets of worm-loading channels that operate at the same time. Worms enter and exit at one set, while imaging and laser ablation are performed at the other. A constant pressure directs the worms to the channels, which only fit one worm at a time. Valves are used to position them and when properly loaded, both ends of the channels are closed. The worms are then immobilised by cooling to enable accurate neuron ablation. After ablation, the worm is released from the channel. The process takes only 20 to 30 seconds, much less than the half hour it can take to ablate neurons manually. 

'Unlike much of the work in this field, which is proof-of-principle, the authors actually collected worms post-surgery and carried out behavioural assays. This makes for a complete and compelling story - very exciting,' says Aaron Wheeler, an expert in microfluidics at the University of Toronto, Canada. 

Lu and Chung say they will use this type of system for many applications in development and behavioural neuroscience in model organisms. 'The challenge is to make these microfluidic chips and the off-chip components even easier to use such that the technology can be popularised and make an impact in biological and medical research,' Lu comments. 

Michael Brown 

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