title: A high-throughput device for size based separation of C. elegans developmental stages.
abstract: Caenorhabditis elegans is a widely used model organism to study development, aging and behavior. Many of these biological studies require staging a large number of worms to assay a synchronized population of animals. Conventional synchronization techniques such as manual picking, gravity stratification and chemical bleaching are labor-intensive and could perturb animals' physiology. Thus, there is a need for a simple inexpensive technology to sort a mixed population of worms based on their developmental stages with minimal perturbation. Here we demonstrate a simple but accurate and high-throughput technique to sort based on animal size, which correlates well with developmental stages. The device consists of an array of geometrically optimized pillars that act as a sieve to allow worms of specific sizes to rapidly move through. With optimized chamber heights, pillar spacing and driving pressures, these binary separation devices are capable of independently separating a mixture of worms at two different stages at average efficiency of around 95%, and throughput of hundreds of worms per minute. In addition, when four devices are used sequentially, we demonstrate the ability to stratify a mixture of worms of all developmental stages with >85% overall efficiency.
authors.affiliation: Beijing Key Laboratory for Microanalytical Methods and Instrumentation, Department of Chemistry, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100084, China. liangql@tsinghua.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Xiaoni
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Ai
authors.forename: Weipeng
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Zhuo
authors.forename: Qionglin
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Liang
authors.forename: Patrick T
authors.initials: PT
authors.lastname: McGrath
authors.forename: Hang
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Lu
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D049628:Body Size / Q000502:physiology; D017173:Caenorhabditis elegans / Q000254:growth & development / Q000502:physiology*; D004867:Equipment Design; D046210:Microfluidic Analytical Techniques / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D023421:Models, Animal; D010063:Ovum / Q000502:physiology; D011312:Pressure