Curcumin Extends Lifespan, Improves Healthspan, and Modulates the Expression of Age-Associated Aging Genes in Drosophila melanogaster

Curcumin, a yellow pigment extracted from the rhizome of the plant Curcuma longa (turmeric) has been widely used as a spice and herbal medicine in Asia. It has been suggested to have many biological activities such as anti-oxidative, anti-inflammatory, anti-cancer, chemopreventive, and anti-neurodegenerative properties. We evaluated the impact of curcumin on lifespan, fecundity, feeding rate, oxidative stress, locomotion and gene expression in two different wild type Drosophila melanogaster strains, Canton-S and Ives, under two different experimental conditions. We report that curcumin extended the lifespan of two different strains of Drosophila and was accompanied by protection against oxidative stress, improvement in locomotion and chemopreventive effects. Curcumin also modulated the expression of several aging related genes (genes with age-dependent changes in gene expression) such as mth, thor, InR, and JNK.

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Lee KS, Lee BS, Semnani S, Avanesian A, Um CY, Jeon HJ, Seong KM, Yu K, Min KJ, Jafari M