School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, 311 Ferst Drive, Atlanta, GA, USA.
J Neurosci Methods. 2010 Aug 15;191(1):90-3. doi: 10.1016/j.jneumeth.2010.05.019. Epub 2010 Jun 9.
Over the past several years, optogenetic techniques have become widely used to help elucidate a variety of neuroscience problems. The unique optical control of neurons within a variety of organisms provided by optogenetics allows researchers to probe neural circuits and investigate neuronal function in a highly specific and controllable fashion. Recently, optogenetic techniques have been introduced to investigate synaptic transmission in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans. For synaptic transmission studies, although quantitative, this technique is manual and very low-throughput. As it is, it is difficult to apply this technique to genetic studies. In this paper, we enhance this new tool by combining it with microfluidics technology and computer automation. This allows us to increase the assay throughput by several orders of magnitude as compared to the current standard approach, as well as improving standardization and consistency in data gathering. We also demonstrate the ability to infuse drugs to worms during optogenetic experiments using microfluidics. Together, these technologies will enable high-throughput genetic studies such as those of synaptic function.
在过去的几年中，光遗传学技术已经被广泛应用于帮助阐明各种神经科学问题。光遗传学为各种生物体中的神经元提供了独特的光学控制，使研究人员能够以高度特定和可控的方式探测神经回路和研究神经元功能。最近，光遗传学技术已被引入线虫秀丽隐杆线虫中的突触传递研究。对于突触传递研究，尽管这种技术是定量的，但它是手动的，并且非常低通量。由于其本身的限制，很难将该技术应用于遗传研究。在本文中，我们通过将其与微流控技术和计算机自动化相结合来增强这一新工具。与当前的标准方法相比，这使我们能够将测定的通量提高几个数量级，同时还提高了数据收集的标准化和一致性。我们还展示了使用微流控技术在光遗传学实验期间向蠕虫中注入药物的能力。总之，这些技术将能够实现突触功能等高通量遗传研究。
