Worm Breeder's Gazette 4(1): 17b

These abstracts should not be cited in bibliographies. Material contained herein should be treated as personal communication and should be cited as such only with the consent of the author.

Permeabilization of Live Worms

S. Ward

I have observed that treatment of worms with the anesthetic 
propylene phenoxytol allows them to take up dyes into somatic tissues. 
Worms were fed 100  g/ml of Hoechst 33258 or ethidium bromide and 
then treated with 1:500 propylene phenoxytol in the presence of the 
dye.  After fifteen minutes the worms are removed from the anesthetic. 
They recover in about 15 minutes and can be observed with the 
fluorescence microscope to have most of their somatic nuclei labelled. 
They are beautiful to watch.  I do not know if these labelling 
conditions are optimal or how long the worms will live and remain 
stained.  Presumably other dyes or drugs or substrates would get in 
too.  Unfortunately, these conditions do not label the gonad.  If 
anyone finds a way to get non-lipophilic labels into the gonad of an 
intact worm, please let me know.