Trends in endocrinology and metabolism: TEMAug 4, 2009

Hormone control of aging in the roundworm Caenorhabditis elegans

Updated Mar 30, 2026

Abstract

Endocrine signaling is suggested to play a key role in the aging processes of multicellular organisms, including the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans.

Aging research in C. elegans has identified distinct pathways influencing the aging process.
Genetic analysis indicates that endocrine signaling is important in most aging pathways.
Two significant pathways highlighted are the insulin/IGF-1 and germline signaling pathways.
Recent data helps to model the potential mechanisms of endocrine signaling in these pathways.

Simplified

Aging research has advanced greatly in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans over the past 20 years, and we are now beginning to piece together distinct pathways that impinge on the aging process. The knowledge base that has been obtained through genetic analysis strongly suggests that endocrine signalling has a key role in most, if not all, of the pathways that alter the aging process of multicellular organisms such as the worm. In this review, we provide an overview of two well-studied aging pathways in C. elegans, the insulin/IGF-1 and germline signalling pathways, in which endocrine signalling is clearly important. We also incorporate recent data to create a model of how endocrine signalling in these pathways might occur.

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