Protective effect of antioxidants, TETRA, and EGCG on the pharyngeal dysfunction caused by cardiotoxic LC. Dose-dependent effect of (A) NAC, (B) ascorbic acid, (C) TETRA, or (D) EGCG. Worms were fed for 2 hours with 100 µg/mL amyloidogenic cardiotoxic protein (H6-BJ) in the absence or presence of increasing concentrations of drugs. Control worms were fed with vehicle alone (dotted line). The pharyngeal pumping rate was scored 20 hours after plating on NGM plates, as described in “Methods.” IC₅₀ value was calculated for each compound. (E) The effect of 5 mM NAC, 284 µM ascorbic acid, 50 µM TETRA, or 100 µM EGCG was determined by incubating worms for 2 hours with 100 µg/mL H6-BJ. The effect of the administration of each compound, alone, at the same concentration and H6-BJ alone was also evaluated. The pharyngeal pumping rate was scored 20 hours after plating on NGM plates, as described in “Methods.” Control worms were fed vehicle alone (vehicle). Mean ± SE (n = 30). **P < .01 and *P < .05 vs vehicle, °°P < .01 vs H6-BJ alone according to 1-way ANOVA followed by Bonferroni post hoc test.