In apparently the first-ever demonstration of a substance significantly increasing life-span, researchers have found that drugs that mimic some natural antioxidants are able to extend the life-span of worms (Caenorhabditis elegans) by nearly 50%.

• Researchers hope that the synthetic antioxidants are someday able to boost or enhance the human body's responses to oxidative stresses as well, and could possibly prolong human life and help to slow or reverse age-related degenerative conditions.

• The scavenging compounds also restored normal life spans to a subgroup of nematodes that would otherwise have aged and died prematurely due to a genetic defect linked to oxidative stress.

• The drugs, produced by Massachussets-based Eukarion, are synthetic versions of the oxygen-free radical scavengers superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase.

• "These results suggest that endogenous oxidative stress is a major determinant of the rate of aging," write Simon Melov, PhD, and colleagues from the Buck Institute for Age Research in Novato, Calif., U.K.'s University of Manchester, and Atlanta's Emory University.

Common and more well-known antioxidants, such as vitamins C and E, work by interrupting chain reactions that would otherwise result in oxidation of cells caused by release of substances, from cell membranes.

"Antioxidants like vitamin E are called chain-breaking antioxidants, because they react with one of the species that's going to propagate and stop the chain reaction. So instead of a process that might involve a hundred molecules, if you have vitamin E around it might stop after only five, so it inhibits oxidation by breaking the chain, preventing the propagation of chain reactions," Dr. Irwin Fridovich, PhD, professor of biochemistry at Duke University said in an interview with WebMD.

In contrast, superoxide dismutase, catalase, and their synthetic mimics work by removing free radicals such as superoxide (O2-), a species of O2 with a negative electrical charge, because its has picked up an additional electron. O2- and other reactive oxygen species are continually being made in the body as byproducts of normal metabolism

According to one of the researchers, the big advantage to the synthetic compounds used in the study is that they catalyze a reaction that degrade the free radicals but leave the drug essentially untouched. "So what happens is that you don't need [an enormous] amount of compound to have a dramatic effect, because as long as the compound is in the body, it will constantly be degrading the oxygen radicals but itself be reconstituted," Dr. Fridovich says.

Co-author Bernard Malfroy, PhD, chief executive officer of Eukarion, the Massachusetts-based company developing the antioxidant compounds used in the study, suggests oral forms of the drugs also might benefit people with neurodegenerative conditions, such as Parkinson's disease and multiple sclerosis.

According to the study's authors "It appears that oxidative stress is a major determinant of life-span and that it can be counteracted by pharmacological intervention."

Science 2000 Sep 1;289:1567-1569

Dr. Mercola's Comments:

This study provides an excellent illustration of the validity of the free-radical theory of aging, as well as the importance of getting adequate amounts in the diet. This basically means following my healthy eating plan. One thing that I am not clear on is why the authors believe we need synthetic drugs to get antioxidants. If one wants additional antioxidant protection over and above that obtained in whole foods, I would recommend Lipoic Acid, which has the ability to "recycle" the body's antioxidants and prevent the loss which is described in the study. It is important to realize that the drugs' manufacturer funded this study and the CEO was actually one of the authors as well. Related Articles: Antioxidant Enzymes Low in Aging Disease Vegetable, Fruit Antioxidants Reduce Heart Risk