Lifespan extension and suppression effects of fermented botanical product on the impairment of locomotor activity and accumulation of aggregates containing ubiquitinated proteins in the muscle of Drosophila aging-accelerated models

Abstract

Although many health foods and their active ingredients have been identified based on their antioxidant activities using biochemical and cell culture analyses, the potential activities are easily lost during gastrointestinal digestion. The lifespan of Drosophila adults who consumed the diet supplemented with diluted fermented botanical product (FBP) was significantly extended. FBP consumption partially suppressed the oxidative stress-induced reduction in viability and epithelial disorders in the flies’ digestive tracts. Although locomotor activity gradually declined with age, FBP significantly suppressed the age-dependent impairment of activity. Accumulation of ubiquitinated protein aggregates containing damaged and no longer needed proteins was significantly suppressed in flies continuously fed FBP after eclosion. Suppression was also observed in flies that were aged to a certain extent, equivalent to middle-aged humans. Our results suggest that FBP exerts antioxidant and antiaging effects in Drosophila. Hyperactivation of the transcription factor Nrf2 is not involved in the antioxidant effects of FBP.