Electric field control of C. elegans movement in microfluidic channels

In this paper we demonstrate that the movement of the nematode (worm) Caenorhabditis elegans in a microfluidic channel can be efficiently controlled by electric field stimulus. We found that the speed and sensitivity of the response was dependent on the age of animals and it did not affect their development and behaviour. Thus electrical field provides an efficient tool to handle worms inside microchannels and could potentially be used in drug discovery and toxicological analysis. © 2009 CBMS.