Quantitative understanding for neural plasticity of C. elegans with newly developed micro-fluidic device

秀丽线虫是模式动物之一，已被用来研究神经功能与行为之间的关系。蠕虫感知气味，并通过检测其浓度梯度来显示向最喜欢的气味来源的趋向性。然而，人们对蠕虫如何辨别气味浓度并改变它们在嗅觉神经元反应中的转头行为知之甚少。为了证明单个神经元在特定行为中的作用，我们通过钙离子和膜电位成像研究了单个神经元的神经活动，并通过开发新型微流体装置来定量行为。我们成功地在AIY中间神经元上观察到气味刺激时与头部运动同步的钙振荡。

Caenorhabditis elegans is known as one of model animals, and it has been used for understanding the relationship between neural functions and behaviors. The worm senses odors and shows taxis toward the source of favorite odor by detecting its concentration gradient. However, little is known how exactly worms can discriminate the concentration of odor and change their head turning behavior in regard to the response of olfactory neurons. For demonstrating the role of single neurons in specific behaviors, we investigated the neural activity from a single neuron by Ca and membrane potential imaging, and also quantitative behaviors by developing new types of micro-fluidic devices. We succeeded to visualize the Ca oscillation synchronized with the head movement during odor stimulation in AIY interneuron.