Chemotaxis assay for evaluation of memory-like behavior in wild-type and Alzheimer's-disease-like C. elegans models

Shu-Qin Cao; He-Ling Wang; Konstantinos Palikaras; Nektarios Tavernarakis; Evandro Fei Fang

doi:10.1016/j.xpro.2023.102250

Chemotaxis assay for evaluation of memory-like behavior in wild-type and Alzheimer's-disease-like C. elegans models

STAR Protoc. 2023 Apr 26;4(2):102250. doi: 10.1016/j.xpro.2023.102250. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Shu-Qin Cao¹, He-Ling Wang¹, Konstantinos Palikaras², Nektarios Tavernarakis³, Evandro Fei Fang⁴

Affiliations

¹ Department of Clinical Molecular Biology, University of Oslo and Akershus University Hospital, Lørenskog, Norway.
² Department of Physiology, School of Medicine, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece.
³ Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, Foundation for Research and Technology-Hellas, 70013 Heraklion, Greece; Department of Basic Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, University of Crete, 70013 Heraklion, Greece.
⁴ Department of Clinical Molecular Biology, University of Oslo and Akershus University Hospital, Lørenskog, Norway; The Norwegian Centre on Healthy Ageing (NO-Age), Oslo, Norway. Electronic address: [email protected].

Abstract

Here, we present an olfactory-dependent chemotaxis assay for evaluating changes in memory-like behavior in both wild-type and Alzheimer's-disease-like C. elegans models. We describe steps for synchronizing and preparing C. elegans populations and for performing isoamyl alcohol conditioning during starvation and chemotaxis assaying. We then detail counting and quantification procedures. This protocol is applicable to mechanistic exploration and drug screening in neurodegenerative diseases and brain aging.

Keywords: Molecular Biology; Neuroscience.