Montmorency tart cherry (Prunus cerasus L.) acts as a calorie restriction mimetic that increases intestinal fat and lifespan in Caenorhabditis elegans

Scientific evidence of foods that improve the lifespan and healthspan of different organisms

Age is a risk factor for numerous diseases. Although the development of modern medicine has greatly extended the human lifespan, the duration of relatively healthy old age, or 'healthspan', has not increased. Targeting the detrimental processes that can occur before the onset of age-related diseases can greatly improve health and lifespan. Healthspan is significantly affected by what, when and how much one eats. Dietary restriction, including calorie restriction, fasting or fasting-mimicking diets, to extend both lifespan and healthspan has recently attracted much attention. However, direct scientific evidence that consuming specific foods extends the lifespan and healthspan seems lacking. Here, we synthesized the results of recent studies on the lifespan and healthspan extension properties of foods and their phytochemicals in various organisms to confirm how far the scientific research on the effect of food on the lifespan has reached.

Anti-aging effects and mechanisms of anthocyanins and their intestinal microflora metabolites

Aging, a natural and inevitable physiological process, is the primary risk factor for all age-related diseases; it severely threatens the health of individuals and places a heavy burden on the public health-care system. Thus, strategies to extend the lifespan and prevent and treat age-related diseases have been gaining increasing scientific interest. Anthocyanins (ACNs) are a subclass of flavonoids widely distributed in fruits and vegetables. Growing evidence suggests that ACNs delay aging and relieve age-related diseases. However, owing to the low bioavailability of ACNs, their gut metabolites have been proposed to play a critical role in mediating health benefits. In this review, we introduce the biological fate of ACNs after consumption and highlight ACNs metabolites (phenolic acids) from intestinal microorganisms. Additionally, ACNs and gut metabolites exhibit outstanding anti-aging ability in Caenorhabditis elegans, Drosophila melanogaster, and mouse models, probably associated with increasing antioxidation, anti-inflammation, protein homeostasis, antiglycation, mitochondrial function, and inhibition of insulin/IGF-1 signaling (IIS). ACNs and gut metabolites have great application prospects as functional foods and drugs to delay aging and manage age-related diseases. Further investigation should focus on the interaction between ACNs and gut microbiota, including clarifying the complex metabolic pathway and maximizing the health effects of ACNs.

Composition of Nonextractable Polyphenols from Sweet Cherry Pomace Determined by DART-Orbitrap-HRMS and Their In Vitro and In Vivo Potential Antioxidant, Antiaging, and Neuroprotective Activities

Sweet cherry pomace is an important source of phenolic compounds with beneficial health properties. As after the extraction of phenolic compounds, a phenolic fraction called nonextractable polyphenols (NEPs) remains usually retained in the extraction residue, alkaline and acid hydrolyses and enzymatic-assisted extraction (EAE) were carried out in this work to recover NEPs from the residue of conventional extraction from sweet cherry pomace. In vitro and in vivo evaluation of the antioxidant, antihypertensive, antiaging, and neuroprotective capacities employing Caenorhabditis elegans was achieved for the first time. Extractable phenolic compounds and NEPs were separated and identified by families by high-performance thin-layer chromatography (HPTLC) with UV/Vis detection. A total of 39 phenolic compounds were tentatively identified in all extracts by direct analysis in real-time high-resolution mass spectrometry (DART-Orbitrap-HRMS). EAE extracts presented the highest in vitro and in vivo antioxidant capacity as well as the highest in vivo antiaging and neuroprotective capacities. These results showed that NEPs with interesting biological properties are retained in the extraction residue, being usually underestimated and discarded.

Acute, Sublethal, and Developmental Toxicity of Kratom (Mitragyna speciosa Korth.) Leaf Preparations on Caenorhabditis elegans as an Invertebrate Model for Human Exposure

Kratom (Mitragyna speciosa Korth.) is a tree native to Southeast Asia with stimulant and opioid-like effects which has seen increased use in Europe and North America in recent years. Its safety and pharmacological effects remain under investigation, especially in regard to developmental and generational toxicity. In the current study, we investigated commercial kratom preparations using the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans as a translational model for toxicity and pharmacological effects. The pure alkaloids mitragynine and 7-hydroxymitragynine as well as aqueous, ethanolic, and methanolic extracts of three commercial kratom products were evaluated using a battery of developmental, genotoxic, and opioid-related experiments. As determined previously, the mitragynine and 7-hydroxymitragynine content in kratom samples was higher in the alcoholic extracts than the aqueous extracts. Above the human consumption range equivalent of 15-70 µg/mL, kratom dose-dependently reduced brood size and health of parent worms and their progeny. 7-hydroxymitragynine, but not mitragynine, presented with toxic and developmental effects at very high concentrations, while the positive control, morphine, displayed toxic effects at 0.5 mM. Kratom and its alkaloids did not affect pumping rate or interpump interval in the same way as morphine, suggesting that kratom is unlikely to act primarily via the opioid-signalling pathway. Only at very high doses did kratom cause developmental and genotoxic effects in nematodes, indicating its relative safety.

Disclosing the Antioxidant and Neuroprotective Activity of an Anthocyanin-Rich Extract from Sweet Cherry (Prunus avium L.) Using In Vitro and In Vivo Models

In this study, an autochthonous variety of sweet cherry (Prunus avium L.), namely “Moretta di Vignola”, was processed to prepare extracts rich in polyphenols, which were characterized by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) separation coupled to UV/DAD and ESI-MSn analysis. Then, a sweet cherry anthocyanin-rich extract (ACE) was prepared, fully characterized and tested for its activity against Parkinson’s disease (PD) in cellular (BV2 microglia and SH-SY5Y neuroblastoma) and in Drosophila melanogaster rotenone (ROT)-induced model. The extract was also evaluated for its antioxidant activity on Caenorhabditis elegans by assessing nematode resistance to thermal stress. In both cell lines, ACE reduced ROT-induced cell death and it decreased, alone, cellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) content while reinstating control-like ROS values after ROT-induced ROS rise, albeit at different concentrations of both compounds. Moreover, ACE mitigated SH-SY5Y cell cytotoxicity in a non-contact co-culture assay with cell-free supernatants from ROT-treated BV-2 cells. ACE, at 50 µg/mL, ameliorated ROT (250 μM)-provoked spontaneous (24 h duration) and induced (after 3 and 7 days) locomotor activity impairment in D. melanogaster and it also increased survival and counteracted the decrease in fly lifespan registered after exposure to the ROT. Moreover, heads from flies treated with ACE showed a non-significant decrease in ROS levels, while those exposed to ROT markedly increased ROS levels if compared to controls. ACE + ROT significantly placed the ROS content to intermediate values between those of controls and ROT alone. Finally, ACE at 25 µg/mL produced a significant increase in the survival rate of nematodes submitted to thermal stress (35 °C, 6–8 h), at the 2nd and 9th day of adulthood. All in all, ACE from Moretta cherries can be an attractive candidate to formulate a nutraceutical product to be used for the prevention of oxidative stress-induced disorders and related neurodegenerative diseases.

An extract of Rosaceae, Solanaceae and Zingiberaceae increases health span and mobility in Caenorhabditis elegans

Background

Members of the Rosaceae, Solanaceae and Zingiberaceae families which include fruits such as cherries, tomatoes and ginger are known to have health promoting effects. There is growing interest in consuming these “functional foods” as a means to increase health and healthy ageing. However, many studies explore the effect of these foods in isolation, not as a blend of multiple functional foods.

Methods

In this study, an extract containing the dried berries, fruits, and roots of members of these families was prepared, which we called Bioact®180. The nematode Caenorhabditis elegans was used to evaluate the effects of Bioact®180 on lifespan and health endpoints, including muscle and mitochondria structure and locomotion.

Results

Exposure to the 1000 µg/mL of Bioact®180 extract, containing 4% total phenols, were healthier, as observed by an increase in mean lifespan with and small but significant increase in maximal lifespan. Nematodes exposed to Bioact®180 displayed better mobility in mid-life stages as well as enhanced mitochondrial morphology, which was more comparable to younger animals, suggesting that these worms are protected to some degree from sarcopenia.

Conclusions

Together, our findings reveal that Bioact®180, a blend of fruits and roots from Rosaceae, Solanaceae and Zingiberaceae family members has anti-aging effects. Bioact®180 promotes health and lifespan extension in C. elegans, corresponding to functional improvements in mobility.

Tart Cherry Increases Lifespan in Caenorhabditis elegans by Altering Metabolic Signaling Pathways

Aging and healthspan are determined by both environmental and genetic factors. The insulin/insulin-like growth factor-1(IGF-1) pathway is a key mediator of aging in Caenorhabditis elegans and mammals. Specifically, DAF-2 signaling, an ortholog of human IGF, controls DAF-16/FOXO transcription factor, a master regulator of metabolism and longevity. Moreover, mitochondrial dysfunction and oxidative stress are both linked to aging. We propose that daily supplementation of tart cherry extract (TCE), rich in anthocyanins with antioxidant properties may exert dual benefits for mitochondrial function and oxidative stress, resulting in beneficial effects on aging in C. elegans. We found that TCE supplementation at 6 μg or 12 μg/mL, increased (p < 0.05) the mean lifespan of wild type N2 worms, respectively, when compared to untreated control worms. Consistent with these findings, TCE upregulated (p < 0.05) expression of longevity-related genes such as daf-16 and aak-2 (but not daf-2 or akt-1 genes) and genes related to oxidative stress such as sod-2. Further, we showed that TCE supplementation increased spare respiration in N2 worms. However, TCE did not change the mean lifespan of daf-16 and aak-2 mutant worms. In conclusion, our findings indicate that TCE confers healthspan benefits in C. elegans through enhanced mitochondrial function and reduced oxidative stress, mainly via the DAF-16 pathway.