To assess the utility of autofluorescence as a noninvasive biomarker of senescence in Caenorhabditis elegans, we measured the autofluorescence of individual nematodes using spectrofluorometry. The fluorescence of each worm increased with age. Animals with lower fluorescence intensity exhibited longer life expectancy. When proteins extracted from worms were incubated with sugars, the fluorescence intensity and the concentration of advanced glycation end products (AGEs) increased over time. Ribose enhanced these changes not only in vitro but also in vivo. The glycation blocker rifampicin suppressed this rise in fluorescence. High-resolution mass spectrometry revealed that vitellogenins accumulated in old worms, and glycated vitellogenins emitted six-fold higher fluorescence than naive vitellogenins. The increase in fluorescence with ageing originates from glycated substances, and therefore could serve as a useful noninvasive biomarker of AGEs. C. elegans can serve as a new model to look for anti-AGE factors and to study the relationship between AGEs and senescence.

为了评估自发荧光作为秀丽隐杆线虫衰老的非侵入性生物标志物的效用，我们使用分光荧光法测量了单个线虫的自发荧光。每条蠕虫的荧光随着年龄的增长而增强。荧光强度较低的动物表现出较长的预期寿命。当从蠕虫中提取的蛋白质与糖一起孵育时，荧光强度和晚期糖基化终产物（AGE）的浓度随着时间的推移而增加。核糖不仅在体外而且在体内增强了这些变化。糖基化阻断剂利福平抑制了荧光的增加。高分辨率质谱分析显示，卵黄原蛋白在老蠕虫体内积累，糖化卵黄蛋白原发出的荧光比幼虫卵黄原蛋白高六倍。随着年龄的增长，荧光的增加源自糖化物质，因此可以作为有用的 AGE 的非侵入性生物标志物。线虫可以作为寻找抗 AGE 因子并研究 AGE 与衰老之间关系的新模型。