A droplet-based microfluidic device for long-term culture and longitudinal observation of Caenorhabditis elegans

A droplet-based microfluidic device for long-term culture and longitudinal observation of Caenorhabditis elegans was presented. The worms were encapsulated in W/O droplets and controllably introduced into separate chambers, where the medium/oil or medium/air interface can be manipulated by a gravity-actuated technique, for lifelong culture. This device also contained clamp structures for reversibly immobilization of each worm separately, and thus we were able to track more details about each worm. Several phenotypes of worms were monitored from their fourth larva stage to death. The relationship between worm body length, stroke frequency and lifespan with this device was then studied. This device had a potential in various longitudinal researches on C. elegans including aging, drug screening, toxicity evaluation and etc.