Imaging Mountant for live C.elegans

Using CyGEL (Biostatus Ltd., UK) C. elegans worms can now be held still for live whole organism imaging and site-specific micro-injection of drugs and siRNA. Worms can be immobilized for up to one hour and then gently recovered to feed, develop and/or produce embryos.

CyGEL accepts the M9 buffer and the helminth-specific anaesthetic Levamisole. Conveniently, CyGEL is a pipettable liquid when cooled below room temperature and forms an optically-inert, clear gel mountant when warmed, suitable for both phase contrast and fluorescence microscopy.

This mounting method should be much simpler and opens up new horizons for microscopy and HCS applications of C. elegans.