said Kerry Komfeld, a geneticist at the Washington

University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Missouri. The findings are detailed this week in the journal Science。

The discovery came out of the thesis work by one of Komfeld s graduate students, Kimberley Evason. About four years ago, Evason began exposing groups of the roundworm Caenorhabditis elegans to commercially available drugs to see if the drugs would delay aging or promote longevity。

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Over eight months the scientists tested 20 drugs, all with negative results. Finally they tested the anticonvulsant drug ethosuzimide. Researchers found that the drug extended the life span of roundworms from 16. 7 days to 19. 6 days, a 17 percent increase。

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The discovery that the drugs extend the life span of roundworms could have important implications fox human aging as well. There are strong similarities on the molecular level between the proteins and genes that

constitute the worm and those that make up other animals, including humans。

“Many basic processes are highly related, including neural function, insulin signaling, and probably important aspects of the aging process, ” Komfeld said. “There s every reason to think that these animals an a good model for higher animals, such as people. ”

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Ethosuzimide, which was developed in the 1950s, is commonly used to treat epilepsy, though it is no known precisely how the drug controls convulsions. There is no anecdotal evidence that it has had an anti-aglng effect in people. The next step, Komfeld says, is to test if the drugs have an anti-aging effect on animal like flies and mice。

Very little is known about the aging process. From genetic analysis, researchers have found that an in sulin-like signaling system regulates aging and longevity.

A good diet can delay aging and extend a person life span. But scientists know virtually nothing about the effect of drugs on aging. “It s a big void, ” Konfeld said。