Chemical sensing via chemotaxis of euglena gracilis confined in an isolated micro-aquarium

Abstract

On-chip cytotoxicity sensing for liquid substances was investigated by using the microbial chemotaxis of Euglena gracilis. The Euglena cells were confined in a closed-type micro-aquarium in a PDMS microchip, and the micro-aquarium was isolated from two microchannels to flow test and reference liquid substances. Small molecules of liquids permeated into PDMS and diffused into the water in the micro-aquarium, and thus, the chemical concentration gradient of test liquids was built in the micro-aquarium. The negative chemotactic movements of Euglena cells were observed for ethanol down to 0.5% within 2-5 min after the injection of diluted ethanol into one of the separated microchannels (counter reference = pure water). On the other hand, when 0.5% H2O2 was introduced as a test liquid (counter reference = pure water), the Euglena cells fell into continuous rotation instead of single step turning and/or straight forward swimming. As a result, total swimming activity in the micro-aquarium decreased even after H2O2 flow was switched back to water. The observation shows that the types of cytotoxic effects can be identified through the cell movement analysis.