C. elegans Movement Tracking: A Method to Assess Locomotion in Worms

- To assess locomotion in C. elegans, use a camera to record the worms' movement on an agar plate, ensuring even illumination of the plate during the recording. To restrict the worms' movement around the plate, use copper rings. Copper is aversive to C. elegans, so worms are corralled within the rings.

Place several copper rings onto one plate to simultaneously track worms in each ring. This allows the assessment of control and experimental animals to be performed under identical conditions, reducing day to day variability and allowing for side by side comparisons. Record the worms' movement over set time intervals, and use computer software to analyze features of the locomotive behavior, such as the speed of movement and distance traveled.

In the example protocol, we will see a demonstration of a movement tracking assay testing the effects of alcohol on the worm's locomotion speed.

- To begin, take two minutes or less to transfer 10 worms from each experimental group to the center of a copper ring on an acclimation plate. This is a plate with no ethanol. Avoid transferring food with the worms as it will reduce their movement. Also avoid damaging the agar surface because the worms