TITLE:
Berberine Attenuated Aging-Accelerating Effect of High Temperature in Drosophila Model
AUTHORS:
Valeriya Navrotskaya, Gregory Oxenkrug, Lyudmila Vorobyova, Paul Summergrad
KEYWORDS:
Berberine; Life Span; Drosophila Melanogaster; High Temperature; Kynurenine
JOURNAL NAME:
American Journal of Plant Sciences,
Vol.5 No.3,
January
26,
2014
ABSTRACT: We have observed that berberine prolonged life
span and improved viability of pupae and climbing activity of imagoes of
wild-type Drosophila melanogaster maintained at 23°C. As a continuation of our
studies of berberine effect on life span, we were
interested to evaluate the effect of berberine of life span in flies maintained
at a higher temperature (28°C) known to accelerate aging in wild type flies.
Considering that genetically or pharmacologically
induced deficiency of TRP conversion into KYN prolonged life span in a
Drosophila model, we compared the effects of berberine, a powerful inhibitor of
kynurenine (KYN) formation from tryptophan (TRP), on life span in wild type and
in Drosophila melanogaster mutants (vermilion) with deficient TRP-KYN metabolism maintained at 23°C and 28°C. High
(28°C) ambient temperature decreased life span in both wild type and vermilion flies. Aging accelerating effect of high
temperature was more pronounced in Oregon than in vermilion flies (-60% vs. -40% decrease of mean life span, resp). Berberine
attenuated the aging-accelerating effect of high temperature. Effect of
berberine was more pronounced in Oregon (+46%) than in vermilion (+22%) flies.
The obtained data suggested the possible
involvement of TRP-KYN metabolism
in the aging-acceleration effect
of the high temperature and in
protective effect of berberine.