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Review
. 2012 Mar;31(3):236-43.
doi: 10.1177/0960327110392084. Epub 2010 Dec 9.

The Caenorhabiditis elegans model as a reliable tool in neurotoxicology

Daiana Avila  1 , Kirsten Helmcke, Michael Aschner
Affiliations
Review

The Caenorhabiditis elegans model as a reliable tool in neurotoxicology

Daiana Avila et al. Hum Exp Toxicol. 2012 Mar.

Abstract

Caenorhabiditis elegans (C. elegans) offers an attractive experimental platform as it has a short life cycle, is inexpensive to maintain and most importantly has high degree of evolutionary conservation with higher eukaryotes. Understanding the contribution of inherent genes that regulate neurotoxicity and antioxidant stress responses in the worm provides critical insight into mechanisms of mammalian neurotoxicity. The C. elegans model readily enables multi-gene approach, allowing for combinatorial genetic variation to be studied within the context of the influence of multigenic polymorphisms in environmental risk and vulnerability. This review provides a synopsis of recent studies on metal and pesticides toxicity in C. elegans, highlighting the utility of the model system in understanding molecular mechanisms that underlie developmental, reproductive and neuronal damage. The continuation of these investigations combining basic toxicological experimentation with novel genetic and high throughput methods will continue to make C. elegans an invaluable tool for future research, providing insight into molecular and cellular mechanisms of toxicity.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Pharyngeal pumping rates in Caenorhabiditis elegans decrease following MeHg exposure. Number of pharyngeal pumps per minute significantly decreased in a dose-dependent manner following 30 minute MeHg exposure of L1 worms 48 hours following treatment at 0.75 and 1 mM MeHg. *Indicates significant difference from untreated group.
Figure 2
Figure 2
MTs protect Caenorhabiditis elegans from depleted uranium (DU) toxicity. This figure illustrates the viability of the control N2 Bristol strain and the various mtl knockout strains as the dose of DU, in the form of uranyl acetate, is increased.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Examples of green fluorescent protein (GFP) tagged neurons (A) Pdat-1∷GFP (dopaminergic neurons); CEPv: ventral cephalic neuron; CEPd: dorsal cephalic neuron; ADE: deirid neuron; (B) GLR-1∷GFP (glutamatergic neurons); PVC: posterior ventral cord interneurons; AVG, AVA, AVE: anterior ventral cord interneurons.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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