Age-synchronous culture of Caenorhabditis elegans: technique and applications

The inclusion of mobility to an age synchrony method and the development of an inexpensive filter device resulted in a natural model aging system without resorting to invasive chemical techniques. Large or small cohorts of nematodes with less than 1% offspring contamination are possible. The filter/mobility method is compared to other methods using the same strain and culture temperature. The applicability of the method is shown with a variety of parameters, and a previously reported parameter of aging in nematodes, i.e., specific gravity, is shown not to be an aging parameter of Caenorhabditis elegans.