Honda S, Ishii N, Suzuki K, Matsuo M
Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Gerontology, Japan.
J Gerontol. 1993 Mar;48(2):B57-61. doi: 10.1093/geronj/48.2.b57.
The effects of atmospheric oxygen on the life span and aging rate of the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans were examined. The mean and maximum life spans of both the wild type and mev-1(kn1) mutant, whose cytoplasmic superoxide dismutase activity level is about half of the wild type, were increased and decreased under low and high concentrations of oxygen, respectively. The Gompertz component, a parameter of aging rate, of the wild type was smaller under 1% oxygen than under 2% or more oxygen. Further, the Gompertz component of the mutant increased with an increase in oxygen concentration. These effects of oxygen on the perturbation of life span and aging rate were more pronounced in the mev-1(kn1) mutant than in the wild type. The oxygen-dependent perturbation of life span and aging rate seems to be enhanced by a genetic defect of the mutant in antioxidant defense. A 1% oxygen exposure at the early phase of life span was ineffective for life span extension in the mutant, suggesting that the effect of oxygen concentrations on life span is not secondary to the effects of development and maturation. These results show that changes in oxygen concentration perturb aging rate, and hence oxygen is involved in the specification of life span of the nematode.
研究了大气氧对线虫秀丽隐杆线虫寿命和衰老速率的影响。野生型和mev-1(kn1)突变体（其细胞质超氧化物歧化酶活性水平约为野生型的一半）的平均寿命和最大寿命，分别在低氧和高氧浓度下增加和降低。野生型的衰老速率参数Gompertz成分在1%氧气条件下比在2%或更高氧气条件下更小。此外，突变体的Gompertz成分随氧气浓度增加而增加。氧气对寿命和衰老速率的这些影响在mev-1(kn1)突变体中比在野生型中更明显。寿命和衰老速率的氧依赖性扰动似乎因突变体在抗氧化防御方面的遗传缺陷而增强。在寿命早期阶段暴露于1%氧气对突变体的寿命延长无效，这表明氧气浓度对寿命的影响并非发育和成熟影响的继发结果。这些结果表明，氧气浓度的变化扰乱衰老速率，因此氧气参与了线虫寿命的决定。
