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Microfluidic Electric Egg-Laying Assay and Application to In-vivo Toxicity Screening of Microplastics using C. elegans
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Researchers developed a miniaturized device that uses electrical signals to measure egg-laying behavior in C. elegans worms exposed to microplastics, offering a faster and more statistically powerful method for toxicity testing. This technology could improve how we screen microplastics and other pollutants for reproductive harm.
Abstract Environmental pollutants like microplastics are posing health concerns on aquatic animals and the ecosystem. Microplastic toxicity studies using C. elegans as a model are evolving but methodologically hindered from obtaining statistically strong data sets, detecting toxicity effects based on microplastics uptake, and correlating physiological and behavioural effects at an individual-worm level. In this paper, we report a novel microfluidic electric egg-laying assay for phenotypical assessment of multiple worms in parallel. The effects of glucose and polystyrene microplastics at various concentrations on the worms’ electric egg-laying, length, diameter, and length contraction during exposure to electric signal were studied. The device contained eight parallel worm-dwelling microchannels called electric traps, with equivalent electrical fields, in which the worms were electrically stimulated for egg deposition and fluorescently imaged for assessment of neuronal and microplastic uptake expression. A new bidirectional stimulation technique was developed, and the device design was optimized to achieve a testing efficiency of 91.25%. Exposure of worms to 100mM glucose resulted in a significant reduction in their egg-laying and size. The effects of 1μm polystyrene microparticles at concentrations of 100 and 1000 mg/L on the electric egg-laying behaviour, size, and neurodegeneration of N2 and NW1229 (expressing GFP pan-neuronally) worms were also studied. Of the two concentrations, 1000 mg/L caused severe egg-laying deficiency and growth retardation as well as neurodegeneration. Additionally, using single-worm level phenotyping, we noticed intra-population variability in microplastics uptake and correlation with the above physiological and behavioural phenotypes, which was hidden in the population-averaged results. Taken together, these results suggest the appropriateness of our microfluidic assay for toxicological studies and for assessing the phenotypical heterogeneity in response to microplastics.
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Microfluidic electric parallel egg-laying assay and application to in-vivo toxicity screening of microplastics using C. elegans
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Researchers developed a microfluidic platform for studying C. elegans egg-laying in parallel and used it to screen microplastic toxicity, demonstrating that the system enables faster and higher-throughput in-vivo ecotoxicological assessment.
A review of the reproductive toxicity of environmental contaminants in Caenorhabditis elegans
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Researchers review how a tiny roundworm called Caenorhabditis elegans is used to study the reproductive harm caused by environmental pollutants — including microplastics, heavy metals, and nanomaterials. Because this worm shares many genes with humans and reproduces quickly, it is a valuable early-warning system for identifying contaminants that could threaten fertility across species.
Microplastics and Their Impact on Reproduction—Can we Learn From the C. elegans Model?
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This review examines the growing evidence that microplastics and nanoplastics can harm reproductive systems in animals, causing oxidative stress, inflammation, and cellular damage that disrupts normal reproductive function. Researchers highlight that these particles can also carry endocrine-disrupting chemicals that further compound reproductive risks. The study proposes using the nematode C. elegans as an efficient model organism for rapidly screening the reproductive effects of plastic particles.
Experimental methods for assessing the effects of microplastics on Caenorhabditis elegans : a scoping review
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This review examined 59 published lab studies that used tiny worms called C. elegans to test microplastic effects. Most studies used simple, unweathered plastic particles of one shape and polymer type, short exposure times, and a single dose, which differs from the varied plastics found in the real environment.
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