Buck Institute for Age Research, Novato, CA 94949, USA.
The School of Biological Sciences and the Academic Unit of Child Health, The University of Manchester, Manchester, M13 9PT, UK.
Center for Molecular Medicine, Emory University, Atlanta, GA 30322, USA.
Eukarion, Bedford, MA 01730, USA.
We tested the theory that reactive oxygen species cause aging. We augmented the natural antioxidant systems of Caenorhabditis elegans with small synthetic superoxide dismutase/catalase mimetics. Treatment of wild-type worms increased their mean life-span by a mean of 44 percent, and treatment of prematurely aging worms resulted in normalization of their life-span (a 67 percent increase). It appears that oxidative stress is a major determinant of life-span and that it can be counteracted by pharmacological intervention.