Longitudinal imaging of <i>Caenorhabditis elegans</i> in a microfabricated device reveals variation in behavioral decline during aging.

Abstract

The roundworm <i>C. elegans</i> is a mainstay of aging research due to its short lifespan and easily manipulable genetics. Current, widely used methods for long-term measurement of <i>C. elegans</i> are limited by low throughput and the difficulty of performing longitudinal monitoring of aging phenotypes. Here we describe the WorMotel, a microfabricated device for long-term cultivation and automated longitudinal imaging of large numbers of <i>C. elegans</i> confined to individual wells. Using the WorMotel, we find that short-lived and long-lived strains exhibit patterns of behavioral decline that do not temporally scale between individuals or populations, but rather resemble the shortest and longest lived individuals in a wild type population. We also find that behavioral trajectories of worms subject to oxidative stress resemble trajectories observed during aging. Our method is a powerful and scalable tool for analysis of <i>C. elegans</i> behavior and aging.