Historically, sodium azide has been used to anesthetize the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans; however, the mechanism by Which it survives this exposure is not understood. In this study, we report that exposure of Wild-type C elegans to 10 mM sodium azide for up to 90 minutes confers thermotolerance (defined as significantly increased survival probability [SP] at 37degreesC) on the animal. In addition, sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis revealed enhanced Hsp70 expression, whereas Western blot analysis revealed the induction of Hsp16. We also tested the only known C elegans Hsp mutant
daf-21 (codes for H
sp90), which constitutively enters the stress-resistant state known as the dauer larvae. Daf-21 mutants also acquire sodium azide-induced thermotolerance, whereas 3 non-Hsp, constitutive dauer-forming mutants exhibited a variable response to azide exposure. We conclude that the ability of C elegans to survive exposure to azide is associated with the induction of at least 2