Surface Acoustic Wave Induced Heat Knockdown of Caenorhabditis Elegans

Abstract

Model organisms such as Caenorhabditis elegans are commonly used in discovering theunderlying mechanisms of human diseases. The field of microfluidics enables a plethora of tools for better studying these organisms. In this research, an effective and simple approach is demonstrated for thermally induced knockdown of Caenorhabditis elegans model organisms. To achieve this, surface acoustic waves are coupled to the fluid medium inside a microfluidic channel. Without active cooling, two pairs of propagating surface acoustic waves induce very rapid heating of the enclose fluid. By controlling the input power of the acoustic waves, temperature of the fluid is precisely adjusted, and induced reversible knockdown of Caenorhabditis elegans samples. Effective temperature window of acoustically induced thermal knockdown is characterized, and the tolerable number of knockdown and wake up cycles is studied. Viability of the Caenorhabditis elegans organisms is also evaluated after increasing numbers of knockdown cycles. Overall, a simple and effective method of worm immobilization method is demonstrated using acoustic waves in microfluidics.