Table 1.
Primer information of the genes.
Fig 1.
Effects of hydrogen on the lifespan, reproduction and motor behavior of C. elegans.
(A-E) Representative Kaplan-Meier survival curves of N2, daf-2, daf-16, sod-3 and sod-5 nematodes after hydrogen treatment (>60 animals per group). (F): Spawning of N2 and sod-5 nematodes with or without hydrogen treatment. (G): N2 and sod-5 nematode head swing frequencies with or without hydrogen treatment. (F) and (G): Data are shown as the mean±SD of three independent experiments. *p<0.05; ** p<0.01.
Table 2.
Determination of hydrogen concentration.
Fig 2.
Effects of hydrogen on ROS levels in C. elegans.
(A) and (C): Corresponding fluorescent images captured by the Image Xpress Micro System. (B): ROS levels of N2 and sod-5 nematodes (days 7 and 14). (C): Effects of hydrogen on ROS levels of N2 and sod-5 nematodes (day 14). Fluorescence intensity was analyzed using Image-Pro Plus 6.0, and the data are shown as the mean ± SD of three independent experiments. *p<0.05; ** p<0.01.
Fig 3.
Expression of several genes in C. elegans after hydrogen treatment.
(A), (C) and (E): A gel image of the PCR product was collected by a gel imager. (B), (D), and (F): The integrated optical density (IOD) values of each gene fragment were analyzed by Image-Pro Plus 6.0. The ratio of IOD of the target gene to the internal reference gene gpd-1 was used as a measure of the level of expression of the target gene. Data are shown as the mean ± SD of three independent experiments. * p<0.05; ** p<0.01.
Fig 4.
Effect of hydrogen on the growth and development of C. elegans after PQ-induced damage.
(A) and (C) Body length changes of N2 and sod-5 nematodes with or without PQ after hydrogen treatment. (B) and (D) The body length of each nematode was calculated using the image analysis software IPP 6.0 (>10 animals per group). (E) Adult rates of N2 and sod-5 nematodes with or without PQ after hydrogen treatment. (F) Spawning of N2 and sod-5 nematodes with or without PQ conditions after hydrogen treatment. (B), (D), (E) and (F): Data are shown as the mean ± SD. The concentration of PQ was 0.5 mM. *p<0.05; ** p<0.01.
Fig 5.
Effect of hydrogen on ROS levels and longevity of C. elegans under PQ-induced insults.
(A) and (C) Corresponding fluorescent images captured by the ImageXpress Micro System. (A) Effect of hydrogen on ROS levels of the N2 strain under PQ treatment. (C) Effect of hydrogen on ROS levels of the sod-5 mutant strain under PQ treatment. (B) and (D) Fluorescence intensity was analyzed using Image-Pro Plus 6.0, and the data are shown as the mean±SD. (E-H) Changes in longevity under PQ conditions with or without hydrogen treatment. Representative Kaplan-Meier survival curves are shown from three independent experiments (>60 animals per group). (A-F) The concentration of PQ was 0.5 mM; (G-H) The concentration of PQ was 5 mM. *p<0.05; **p<0.01.