Fig. 1: Thiol antioxidants shorten C. elegans lifespan.

Chronic supplementation of fresh NAC (n = 234(untreated), 159(5 mM NAC), 223(15 mM NAC)), (a) or GSH (n = 175(untreated), 168(5 mM GSH)), (b) limits the lifespan of live bacteria (LB)-fed C. elegans. c NAC dose-dependently shortens the lifespan of dead bacteria (DB)-fed C. elegans (n = 525(untreated), 263(5 mM NAC), 211(15 mM NAC)). d Supplementation of NAC to older animals mildly shortens their lifespan. N2 animals were fed DB until day 13 of adulthood; half of them were transferred to agar plates with 5 mM NAC (n = 261(untreated), 289(5 mM NAC)). e The SH-group of NAC accounts for accelerated aging. Worms fed DB treated with N-acetyl serine (NAS), which has an –OH, instead of a –SH (n = 203(untreated), 204(5 mM NAC), 221(5 mM NAS)). All graphs show the composite of three independent experiments (except b, which is a composite of two independent experiments). Average percentage change ±SD of the lifespan relative to an untreated control is indicated in color matching the corresponding curve. See also Supplementary Table 2.