Senolytic Drug Quercetin Rescues Survival from Blue Light Toxicity in Drosophila Model.

With the increasing frequency of human exposure to blue light, the harmfulness of blue light has received wider attention. The damaging effect of blue light is complex and long-lasting. In this study, Drosophila melanogaster was used as a model organism to investigate the protective effect of the senolytic drug quercetin on blue light toxicity. As one of the first senolytic drugs discovered, quercetin not only has antioxidant properties, but also has been used to treat various neurological disorders. Our study shows that quercetin can effectively prolong the survival of flies under blue light irradiation, and it significantly increases the egg production of female flies under blue light. In addition, after flies intaking quercetin under blue light, both the spontaneous activity and nutrient metabolism show significant sex-specificity. The experimental results provide a potentially effective intervention method for organisms to defend against blue light toxicity, and reveal a new function of the senolytic drug quercetin from another perspective.

Luteolin alleviated damage caused by blue light to Drosophila.

Short-wavelength blue light is commonly found in daily life and is harmful to health. In this experiment, we investigated the effect of luteolin on the survival time of Drosophila under the blue light condition of 3000 Lux using Drosophila as the model organism. The results showed that luteolin alleviated the damage suffered by Drosophila under blue light irradiation, significantly prolonged the survival time of Drosophila, prolonged the survival time of male Drosophila in the heat stress assay, increased the activity of female Drosophila in the spontaneous activity assay, and increased the egg production of female Drosophila at the highest concentration, and there was no significant difference in the food intake experiment. We suggest that the increase in survival time of Drosophila under blue light conditions is due to the function of luteolin in resisting oxidative stress.

Dietary Phytochemicals that Can Extend Longevity by Regulation of Metabolism.

Diet provides energy and nutrition for human survival, and also provides various joy of taste. Extensive studies have shown that the major components of diet, such as protein, carbohydrate and fat, play important roles in regulating aging and longevity. Whether other dietary ingredients can help prevent aging and extend longevity is a very interesting question. Here based on recent findings, we discussed dietary plant ingredients that can extend longevity by regulation of metabolism, targeting TRP channels, mitophagy, senescence pathways and circadian rhythms. Better understanding of the detailed effects and mechanisms of dietary ingredients on longevity regulation, would be helpful for developing new intervention tools for preventing aging and aging related diseases.

Green light extends Drosophila longevity.

The role of visible light on longevity is incompletely understood. Here we show the effect of visible light in Drosophila melanogaster is wavelength specific. Life span was significantly extended by green light, whereas blue light reduced longevity dramatically, and minor impact was observed with red light. While oxidative stress, heat stress, or caloric restriction does not contribute to the beneficial effect of green light, our study found that the life span extension effect of green light might be mediated by microbiota or photosensitive micronutrients in food medium. In conclusion, we report that green light can extend longevity and present the potential of light as a noninvasive therapy for aging-related diseases.

Effect of Chinese Herbal Tea on Health Tested on Drosophila Model.

Chinese herbal tea has a long history in China, and is one of the most consumed beverage products as of now. However, whether herbal tea can really promote health and be considered as a functional food is still a question. The objective of this work was to assess the beneficial effect of herbal tea on health using Drosophila as the model. Adding commercially available herbal tea to food could increase average life span of fruit flies for more than 50%. Further tests showed that the effect of herbal tea was not dependent on specific single ingredient. The present results suggest that Chinese herbal tea may have beneficial effects to human health.

Sex specific effects of capsaicin on longevity regulation.

The consumption of spicy food in daily diets have been found to be inversely associated with human mortality. However, whether intake of spices is the reason for reduced mortality, and whether capsaicin, the main bioactive component of spices, plays a major role, remain elusive. Here, we report that low concentration of capsaicin can indeed extend life span. Capsaicin had no effect on food consumption, reproductive fitness, or stress tolerance. However, it did appear to decrease the daytime activity of females. We hypothesize that this decrease in activity may be a contributing factor in the life span extending property of capsaicin.