Thrashing assay

Model Organism: Worms Scientific Discussion
1

I am planning to do a thrashing assay in worms with some toxins which affect the movement of the worm. Can someone help me understand what exactly is thrashing assay. I mean how do you define ONE THRASH as? From the literature i read, it was not clear. If someone can help me access a video which shows a thrash it would be helpful. thank you

2

the internet is peppered with papers that report using a thrashing assay and although there is some variation, the basic idea is:

  1. take worm(s) of choice and wash / wipe (using a bacteria-free plate) free of bacteria.

  2. place in a suitable buffer (often this is M9).

  3. give it/them a minute to get used to this outrage.

  4. Video the worm(s) thrashing for 30 seconds / 1 minute.

  5. Relax with a suitable bottle of red and analyse your videos with a suitable software (ImageJ or a video player).

  6. 1 thrash cycle can be thought of as the worm at t = 0 looking like a banana, then straightening (like a stick) and then bending in the opposite direction (so looking like the mirror image of the first banana), then reversing and finally ending up in the original shape.
    (if you need a more scientific image of this process, imagine the sine wave where the head and the tail of the worm are peak and trough respectively at the start, then become trough and peak and finally return to their original positions)

I hope that’s confusing enough for a Tuesday morning?

In any case, take a look at this paper, it presents some of the problems behind the thrash assay before suggesting an alternative.

http://link.springer.com/article/10.1186%2F1471-2202-10-84#

happy thrashing…

Steve

3

Sorry for the late reply, but thank you so much for a very innovative explanation. It did really help on how to count a thrash