Fig. 5: LAKI enables optical control of conserved pain pathways in C. elegans.

a Schematic of the experimental behavioral assay. The black arrow represents the incubation of C. elegans in saline or 100 µM LAKI solution. The Magenta arrow represents the beginning of 15 s application of light at 365 nm. The blue arrow represents the beginning of the 15 s application of light at 480 nm. b Representative observed behavior in the dark (i), then during 365 nm light application (ii), and during 480 nm light illumination (iii). c Graph summarizing the fold increase generation of Omega turns under 365 or 480 nm illumination compared to the dark, in the presence of LAKI (100 µM) or with saline solution. n was obtained from four independent experiments. Statistical significance was determined by QuasiPoisson GLM followed by Bonferroni’s post-test (***p < 0.001). d Bar graph summarizing the relative average of Omega turns made either in the presence of LAKI (100 µM), LAKI (100 µM) plus ML67.33 (80 µM), LAKI (100 µM) plus Ibuprofen (100 µM), LAKI (100 µM) plus Nefopam (100 µM), LAKI (100 µM) plus APAP (100 µM), LAKI (100 µM) plus AEA (100 µM) or equivalent DMSO upon 15 s illumination at 365 nm. n for Saline and LAKI was obtained from four independent experiments, n for analgesic molecules was obtained from one experiment. Statistical significance was determined by QuasiPoisson GLM followed by Dunnett’s post-test (*p = 0.01499, **p = 0.00724, ***p < 0.001 versus control; #p = 0.01449, ###p = 0.000482, p = 0.000321, p = 0.000352, and p = 0.0000523 respectively for ML67.33, Ibuprofen, Nefopam and APAP versus LAKI). Data are represented as mean ± SEM adjusted for the propagation of uncertainties. The numbers of C. elegans are indicated in parentheses on the graph.