GIVING worms antioxidants can make them live up to twice as long as normal.
The finding adds to the evidence that the damage wreaked by free
radicals鈥攚hich are mopped up by antioxidants鈥攊s a major cause of
ageing.
An international team of researchers added two powerful antioxidants,
superoxide dismutase and catalase, to the liquid in which adult nematode worms
were living. They found that, on average, the worms lived 50 per cent longer
(Science, vol 289, p 1567).
鈥淲e predicted the lifespan extension but I was still surprised,鈥� says Gordon
Lithgow of the University of Manchester.
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鈥淚 started seeing these things that should be dead swimming around. We鈥檝e
seen that with mutants before. But it鈥檚 just amazing to see it with a drug,鈥�
says Lithgow. However, it鈥檚 not clear whether these antioxidants would have the
same effect on humans.