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How long will the worms live?


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41 replies to this topic

Poll: Worm Lifespan Poll (34 member(s) have cast votes)

How long will the treated worms live vs. controls

  1. 50% or greater lifespan reduction (2 votes [5.88%])

    Percentage of vote: 5.88%

  2. 25 to 49% lifespan reduction (0 votes [0.00%])

    Percentage of vote: 0.00%

  3. 10 to 24% lifespan reduction (3 votes [8.82%])

    Percentage of vote: 8.82%

  4. 5 to 9% lifespan reduction (2 votes [5.88%])

    Percentage of vote: 5.88%

  5. 1 to 4% lifespan reduction (1 votes [2.94%])

    Percentage of vote: 2.94%

  6. No statistical difference (5 votes [14.71%])

    Percentage of vote: 14.71%

  7. 1 to 4% lifespan increase (5 votes [14.71%])

    Percentage of vote: 14.71%

  8. 5 to 9% lifespan increase (7 votes [20.59%])

    Percentage of vote: 20.59%

  9. 10 to 24% lifespan increase (6 votes [17.65%])

    Percentage of vote: 17.65%

  10. 25 to 49% lifespan increase (1 votes [2.94%])

    Percentage of vote: 2.94%

  11. 50% or greater lifespan increase (2 votes [5.88%])

    Percentage of vote: 5.88%

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#31 Elus

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Posted 16 December 2009 - 04:13 AM

It's been a while. I'm really curious to see what the results were! Nason, give us some info :D

#32 31stCentury

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Posted 27 December 2009 - 03:09 PM

It's the start of 2010 this week and we still have not seen any update for a long time. What's going on? It is bad news? Did nothing special come out of this research? Please let us know soon!

#33 AgeVivo

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Posted 27 December 2009 - 06:59 PM

We imagine that there is a technical trouble: research is full of technical difficulties, because it is not about standard procedures whose difficulties have been encountered by many, and there is nothing wrong about that. It would be nice to know if it is still the fact that most worms are lost, or anything else. If we know what hhappens precisely then there might be people here who [know people who] have encountered the problem before and have a solution. Thanks.

#34 s123

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Posted 28 December 2009 - 06:25 PM

As a crude (very crude) approximation, worm aging is supposed to be a model for post-mitotic cell aging. So they tend to die from things that tissues like neurons or heart muscle die from -- lipofuscin accumulation, cell loss, mitochondrial issues, but not cancer.


I don't know if C. elegans could die from cancer but C. elegans could suffer from tumors in its gonad.

#35 s123

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Posted 28 December 2009 - 07:54 PM

I'm not sure if it would extend the lifespan because first of all it is not clear if lipofuscin contributes to aging in C. elegans* and if it would then it could be that other kinds of damage cause the animal to die at the same time as it would if the lipofuscin wasn't removed. It could be that mitochondrial DNA mutations kill the animal in most cases before lipofuscin kills them. In that case removing lipofuscin will have no impact on lifespan but if you also repair the mitochondrial DNA mutations then both techniques together will have a big impact on lifespan. You don't need lipofuscin, so removing it is a good idea but if the lifespan of the C. elegans doesn't change then this doesn't mean that further pursue of this repair strategy is useless. So, whatever the end result may be this project is an important one.

It could also be that the therapy shortens the lifespan because the breakdown products of lipofuscin are toxic. In that case the removal would still be valuable but only when combined with other strategies that detoxify the toxic breakdown products.

* The fluorescent granules are clearly seen in late larvae and young adult worms but the fluorescence only increases marginally during early and mid-adulthood. The increased fluorescence is only seen in the most impaired animals of a certain age category. Furthermore this increase is not due to increased fluorescence in gut granules but by a sudden, large increase in the pseudocelom of the worm in the days before its death. This suggests that the increase in fluorescent material is an indicator of impending death instead of aging, maybe because of the massive failure of different systems in the days before its death? Is this blue fluorescent material in C. elegans really lipofuscin or is it something else???

I wish Nason much success with this great project!

#36 Mind

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Posted 29 December 2009 - 10:56 PM

I'm not sure if it would extend the lifespan because first of all it is not clear if lipofuscin contributes to aging in C. elegans* and if it would then it could be that other kinds of damage cause the animal to die at the same time as it would if the lipofuscin wasn't removed. It could be that mitochondrial DNA mutations kill the animal in most cases before lipofuscin kills them. In that case removing lipofuscin will have no impact on lifespan but if you also repair the mitochondrial DNA mutations then both techniques together will have a big impact on lifespan.


The idea is that lipofuscin is the KEY type of junk that clogs the lysosome and impairs cellular turnover/rejuvenation/autophagy. Remove this junk and it is theorized that cells will function normally for much longer and slow the accumulation of other damage. A novel theory and not too likely based on comments I have seen from some knowledgeable people. Hopefully we will find out more during the course of this experiment.

The last update from Nason was December 4th. I suspect we will get another update in the beginning of January, after the holidays.

December 4th:
The worms are still chugging along - about a third are dead in the control group. There seems to be some question as to what is meant by 'bad plates'. Bad NGM plates (the plates the worms live on) can be ones that are either contaminated with mold, foreign bacteria, etc. or they can be plates that simply have an OP50 e. coli spot that is off-center. This spot is the worm's food, and the worms typically congregate around it. If the spot goes clear to the side of the plate, the worms often crawl of the plate (where they dissicate and die) or they often burrow beneath the agar around the edges - where they may or may not be recoverable. These problems are mostly avoided by exercising good sterile technique, and being careful to keep the spots right in the center (and letting them dry thoroughly before moving them) when spotting the plates. I hope this helps! If I have time, I'll try making a video showing the worms getting treated...



#37 AgeVivo

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Posted 30 December 2009 - 11:49 PM

The worms are still chugging along - about a third are dead in the control group. There seems to be some question as to what is meant by 'bad plates'. Bad NGM plates (the plates the worms live on) can be ones that are either contaminated with mold, foreign bacteria, etc. or they can be plates that simply have an OP50 e. coli spot that is off-center. This spot is the worm's food, and the worms typically congregate around it. If the spot goes clear to the side of the plate, the worms often crawl of the plate (where they dissicate and die) or they often burrow beneath the agar around the edges - where they may or may not be recoverable. These problems are mostly avoided by exercising good sterile technique, and being careful to keep the spots right in the center (and letting them dry thoroughly before moving them) when spotting the plates. I hope this helps! If I have time, I'll try making a video showing the worms getting treated...

Oh, I had not seen his answer. Nice. Indeed it requires care. To limit contamination risks a candle can burn next to the microscope, when the plates are open. I guess the technique is already used by Nason.

#38 Elus

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Posted 31 December 2009 - 02:31 AM

Oh, I had not seen his answer. Nice. Indeed it requires care. To limit contamination risks a candle can burn next to the microscope, when the plates are open. I guess the technique is already used by Nason.


My biochemist mentor used that technique to limit contamination while we grew bacteria that expressed alpha synuclein. Except it wasn't a candle, it was a gas burner.

Edited by Elus Efelier, 31 December 2009 - 02:31 AM.


#39 Mind

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Posted 07 January 2010 - 05:57 PM

January 5th

Nason: Sorry its taken me this long - lots of issues going on at once on my end. I can run the statistics if need be to try and determine significance - I'm looking up how to do it, since there are many complex factors, such as lost worms, environmental factors, etc. However, I think the trend is clear - there's some benefit with the most heavily-treated group, at least early on. Later, the effects of contamination make definitive determinations impossible. Replication with more redundancy and better control over environmental conditions is in order:


Attached graph shows the results, unfortunately, as was described earlier in this thread, not many worms survived the contamination so there might not be any statistical significance.

Attached Files



#40 niner

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Posted 08 January 2010 - 07:11 AM

This sounds promising, despite the teething problems.

At day 23 mold contamination had set in on the L3 plate, and killed 40% of the
population immediately, and the rest at an accelerated rate thereafter. Contamination
was obvious - worms were literally glued to the plate by the mold. As you can see, up
until this point they were doing fantastic. They were also noticeably younger in
appearance and movement than controls. The contamination followed them to all future
L3 plates despite my best efforts to avoid this. Therefore, I think the fact that L3 did so
well despite this problem is good indication that this dosing regimen was quite beneficial
to the worms.



#41 Elus

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Posted 08 January 2010 - 06:02 PM

Will you be repeating the experiment, Nason?

#42 DeadMeat

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Posted 16 January 2010 - 02:12 PM

This sounds promising, despite the teething problems.

At day 23 mold contamination had set in on the L3 plate, and killed 40% of the
population immediately, and the rest at an accelerated rate thereafter. Contamination
was obvious - worms were literally glued to the plate by the mold. As you can see, up
until this point they were doing fantastic. They were also noticeably younger in
appearance and movement than controls. The contamination followed them to all future
L3 plates despite my best efforts to avoid this. Therefore, I think the fact that L3 did so
well despite this problem is good indication that this dosing regimen was quite beneficial
to the worms.


Perhaps the risk of mold is a good excuse to add some resveratrol next time. :)
http://www.ncbi.nlm....pubmed/15740035

Resveratrol is known as a grapevine secondary metabolite with fungicide activity. Its exogenous application on harvested grapes resulted in the reduction of microbial flora growth, and consequently, prolonged shelf life, without affecting the nutritional quality of the fruit. Resveratrol treatment also resulted in being effective on fruit that normally does not accumulate such metabolites as, for example, tomatoes, apples, avocado pears, and peppers. As a result, all treated fruits maintained their post-harvest quality and health longer than the untreated ones. This study demonstrates the potential use of resveratrol as a natural pesticide to reduce post-harvest fungi development on a broad spectrum of fruit types.






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