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Applications Celegans

TECH APPLICATION by Animal Model

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CAENORHABDITIS ELEGANS

Caenorhabditis elegans has been proven to be a useful model organism for investigating molecular and cellular aspects of numerous human diseases. More recently, investigators have explored the use of this organism as a tool for drug discovery. Although earlier drug screens were labor-intensive and low in throughput, recent advances in high-throughput liquid workflows, imaging platforms and data analysis software have made C. elegans a viable option for automated high-throughput drug screens. In this sense, WMicrotracker system has become a very useful tool for worm researchers allowing to perform fast screenings and automated biological output readout.

Technology compatibility:

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Anthelmintics

Anthelmintic is the term used to describe a drug used to treat infections of animals with parasitic worms. This includes both flat worms, e.g., flukes (trematodes) and tapeworms (cestodes) as well as round worms (nematodes). The parasites are of huge importance for human tropical medicine and for veterinary medicine. Although C.elegans is a non parasitic free living animal, it can be used to perform investigations on anthelminthics and nematicides.

Chemical Screening 

Natural compounds 

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NeuroDisease models

Caenorhabditis elegans is an attractive model organism in diverse fields of biology. One of the advantages of C. elegans is that it is feasible to generate “humanized” models of human diseases.Despite the lack of evolutionary complexity, there are a significant number of proteins that are evolutionary conserved between C. elegans and humans. It has been estimated that about 42% of the human disease genes have an orthologue in the genome of C. elegans including those genes associated with Alzheimer disease, Parkinson’s disease, muscular dystrophy, and many others disorders. Neurodegenerative models usually involve the transgenic expression of human disease genes. In addition to being an excellent model to study diseases in the context of a whole organisms, C. elegans is compatible with high-throughput screenings for rapid and inexpensive drug discovery before boarding on expensive animal models.Methods that automate measure behavioral differences, as wMicrotracker ONE and ARENA systems, enables the study of human neurodegenerative disorders using ‘humanized worms’ and makes possible the screening of drugs.

alpha-Synuclein Toxicity

Accumulation of protein aggregates are a major hallmark of progressive neurodegenerative disorders such as Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer’s disease. Transgenic Caenorhabditis elegans nematodes expressing the human synaptic protein α-synuclein in body wall muscle show inclusions of aggregated protein, which affects similar genetic pathways as in humans.

Tau Aggregation

Tau is a neuron specific microtubule-associated protein that regulates microtubule stability, which is critical for axonal outgrowth and synaptic plasticity. In a pathological condition, tau dissociates from microtubules and forms insoluble aggregates called neurofibrillary tangles (NFTs).

MJD Disorder

Machado–Joseph disease (MJD), also known as spinocerebellar ataxia type 3 (SCA3), is an incurable disorder, widely regarded as the most common form of spinocerebellar ataxia in the world.

ALS

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a debilitating neurodegenerative disorder in which the neuromuscular junction progressively degenerates, leading to movement difficulties, paralysis, and eventually death.

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Toxicology

Animal behaviour depends upon integrated processes at the subcellular, cellular, and organismal level, and thus is susceptible of disruption by a broad spectrum of chemicals. Locomotor behaviour (movement) of the small free-living nematode C.elegans has proven to be useful in assessing toxicity. We can find literature about it on the field of Ecology, Pharmacology, Nanotechnology, Agrochemistry, drug development and many others. Toxicity measures are easily implemented using our WMicrotracker system.

Worm Adult Activity Test [wAAT method]

Developmental toxicology [wDAT method]

"ADMET like" using C. elegans

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Antioxidants

The nematode Caenorhabditis elegans has gained widespread recognition for its contribution to the study of various biological processes. Reactive oxygen species (ROS) play a complex role in this organism, including their involvement in signaling and the epigenetic regulation of gene expression. However, excessive levels of ROS can be harmful to cells and lead to oxidative stress, which is a major contributing factor in the development of numerous human diseases, such as diabetes, atherosclerosis, cancer, and aging. Consequently, the development of compounds that can reduce oxidative stress holds great potential for medical applications. The discovery of new antioxidants is of significant interest to both the pharmaceutical and food industries. WMicrotracker is an automated measurement system specifically designed for studying stress responses. It enables researchers to conduct assays using various compounds, including hydrogen peroxide, paraquat, juglone, and sodium arsenite.

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Lifespan and Healthspan

C. elegans offers several advantages for studying the biology of aging. The relatively short lifespan allows for genetic screenings, enabling the identification of underlying pathways associated with improvements in healthspan or lifespan. Using WMicrotracker ONE and ARENA, high-throughput measurements in liquid can be performed to assess the healthspan of worms. Additionally, SMART complements the results by allowing the performance of healthspan and lifespan assays on NGM
  • Lifespan assay using SMART has not been published yet, but we have sold more than 30 units last year and expect publications soon.You will find internal example here.

Technology use comparison:

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