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Adult‐Limited Dietary Restriction Slows Gompertzian Aging in Caenorhabditis elegans
Author(s) -
LENAERTS ISABELLE,
EYGEN SYLVIE VAN,
FLETEREN JACQUES VAN
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
annals of the new york academy of sciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.712
H-Index - 248
eISSN - 1749-6632
pISSN - 0077-8923
DOI - 10.1196/annals.1395.049
Subject(s) - gompertz function , caenorhabditis elegans , biology , life span , longevity , reproduction , life expectancy , senescence , physiology , gerontology , zoology , demography , evolutionary biology , ecology , medicine , genetics , population , machine learning , sociology , computer science , gene
: Dietary restriction (DR) delays the onset of age‐related deterioration and extends the life span in a variety of model organisms. In many species, age changes in mortality obey the Gompertz equation, which describes an exponential increase with age in age‐specific mortality rate. Recently, this model has been used in fruitflies and rodents to investigate the mechanism by which DR reduces adult mortality. We report that food restriction imposed by axenic culture reduces the exponential increase of age‐specific mortality of Caenorhabditis elegans. Furthermore, the life span appears largely independent of nutritional status during development, as shown by shifting worms to different food concentrations shortly before adulthood. When DR was exerted after reproduction, a smaller reduction in Gompertzian aging was seen. Thus, the demographic changes exerted by DR in C. elegans resemble those seen in rats, yet are different to those seen in Drosophila and mice.