Abstract
To uncover potential anti-aging capacities of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans was used to investigate the effects of Eucommia ulmoides and Cuscuta chinensis extracts, selected by screening seven TCM extracts, on different healthspan parameters. Nematodes exposed to E. ulmoides and C. chinensis extracts, starting at the young adult stage, exhibited prolonged lifespan and increased survival after heat stress as well as upon exposure to the pathogenic bacterium Photorhabdus luminescens, whereby the survival benefits were monitored after stress initiation at different adult stages. However, only C. chinensis had the ability to enhance physical fitness: the swimming behavior and the pharyngeal pumping rate of C. elegans were improved at day 7 and especially at day 12 of adulthood. Finally, monitoring the red fluorescence of aged worms revealed that only C. chinensis extracts caused suppression of intestinal autofluorescence, a known marker of aging. The results underline the different modes of action of the tested plants extracts. E. ulmoides improved specifically the physiological fitness by increasing the survival probability of C. elegans after stress, while C. chinensis seems to be an overall healthspan enhancer, reflected in the suppressed autofluorescence, with beneficial effects on physical as well as physiological fitness. The C. chinensis effects may be hormetic: this is supported by increased gene expression of hsp-16.1 and by trend, also of hsp-12.6.
Highlights
IntroductionAging is a complicated biological process that is associated with loss of physiological (e.g. stress resistance, metabolic rate, immune status), cognitive, reproductive and physical (e.g. locomotion and muscle integrity) functions which leads to death (Fuellen et al, 2019; Kocsisova et al, 2019)
Aging is a complicated biological process that is associated with loss of physiological, cognitive, reproductive and physical functions which leads to death (Fuellen et al, 2019; Kocsisova et al, 2019)
This study focuses on the general health effects of C. chinensis and E. ulmoides, which were selected among seven tested Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) extracts in a preliminary screen using C. elegans
Summary
Aging is a complicated biological process that is associated with loss of physiological (e.g. stress resistance, metabolic rate, immune status), cognitive, reproductive and physical (e.g. locomotion and muscle integrity) functions which leads to death (Fuellen et al, 2019; Kocsisova et al, 2019). On May 25th, 2019, the WHO issued the 11th revision of the International Statistical Classification of Diseases (ICD-11) (WHO, 2019) which includes TCM as a recognized phytomedicinal approach. This reflects the contribution of TCM to the world’s healthcare, and acknowledges the current needs for TCM (Lam et al, 2019). Since clinical trials are expensive, protracted, and require substantial organizational efforts, the most promising TCM preparations need to be wisely chosen from that long list. The current study aimed to help with this selection process
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