title: Microfluidic platform integrated with worm-counting setup for assessing manganese toxicity.
abstract: We reported a new microfluidic system integrated with worm responders for evaluating the environmental manganese toxicity. The micro device consists of worm loading units, worm observing chambers, and a radial concentration gradient generator (CGG). Eight T-shape worm loading units of the micro device were used to load the exact number of worms into the corresponding eight chambers with the assistance of worm responders and doorsills. The worm responder, as a key component, was employed for performing automated worm-counting assay through electric impedance sensing. This label-free and non-invasive worm-counting technique was applied to the microsystem for the first time. In addition, the disk-shaped CGG can generate a range of stepwise concentrations of the appointed chemical automatically and simultaneously. Due to the scalable architecture of radial CGG, it has the potential to increase the throughput of the assay. Dopaminergic (DAergic) neurotoxicity of manganese on C. elegans was quantitatively assessed via the observation of green fluorescence protein-tagged DAergic neurons of the strain BZ555 on-chip. In addition, oxidative stress triggered by manganese was evaluated by the quantitative fluorescence intensity of the strain CL2166. By scoring the survival ratio and stroke frequency of worms, we characterized the dose- and time-dependent mobility defects of the manganese-exposed worms. Furthermore, we applied the microsystem to investigate the effect of natural antioxidants to protect manganese-induced toxicity.
authors.affiliation: School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Sun Yat-sen University , Guangzhou, Guangdong 510006, China.
authors.forename: Beibei
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Gannan Medical University , Ganzhou, JiangXi 341000, China.
authors.forename: Yinbao
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Sun Yat-sen University , Guangzhou, Guangdong 510006, China.
authors.forename: Qidi
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: He
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory for Precision and Non-traditional Machining Technology of Ministry of Education, Dalian University of Technology , Dalian, Liaoning 116023, China.
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Qin
authors.affiliation: School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Sun Yat-sen University , Guangzhou, Guangdong 510006, China.
authors.forename: Yanyan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.affiliation: School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Guangxi Medical University , Nanning, Guangxi 530021, China.
authors.forename: Xinchun
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Sun Yat-sen University , Guangzhou, Guangdong 510006, China.
authors.forename: Lin
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Sun Yat-sen University , Guangzhou, Guangdong 510006, China.
authors.forename: Meicun
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Yao
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory for Precision and Non-traditional Machining Technology of Ministry of Education, Dalian University of Technology , Dalian, Liaoning 116023, China.
authors.forename: Junshan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Sun Yat-sen University , Guangzhou, Guangdong 510006, China.
authors.forename: Zuanguang
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Chen