scholarly journals Some Phenotypic Characteristics of Nematode Caenorhabditis elegans Strains with Defective Functions of the Sestrin (cSesn) gene

2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 759-767 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. O. Zeltukhin ◽  
G. V. Ilyinskaya ◽  
A. V. Budanov ◽  
P. M. Chumakov
Keyword(s):  
Caenorhabditis Elegans ◽  
Redox Homeostasis ◽  
Functional Decline ◽  
Extended Period ◽  
Locomotory Activity ◽  
Pumping Rate ◽  
Phenotypic Differences ◽  
C Elegans ◽  
Age Related ◽  
Pharyngeal Pumping

In mammals a small family of genes called Sestrins play important roles in the maintenance of metabolic and redox homeostasis, suggesting that the genes may positively affect the lifespan and counteract the age-related functional decline. The nematode genome contains a single cSesn gene that makes the Caenorhabditis elegans an excellent model for studying functions of the sestrin family. We describe phenotypic differences of worms that have compromised expression of cSesn gene. By comparing three different cSesn-deficient modes with the wild-type C. elegans strain we show that the abrogation of cSesn expression results in an increased body size, an extended period of body growth, a reduces brood size and number of offspring per a single worm, an accelerated decline in muscular functions revealed as a rapid decrease in the pharyngeal pumping rate and in the overall locomotory activity. The results are consistent with the potential roles of cSesn in counteracting the process of aging in C. elegans.

scholarly journals Enhanced Healthspan in Caenorhabditis elegans Treated With Extracts From the Traditional Chinese Medicine Plants Cuscuta chinensis Lam. and Eucommia ulmoides Oliv.

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shimaa M. A. Sayed ◽  
Karsten Siems ◽  
Christian Schmitz-Linneweber ◽  
Walter Luyten ◽  
Nadine Saul
Keyword(s):  
Caenorhabditis Elegans ◽  
Chinese Medicine ◽  
Traditional Chinese Medicine ◽  
Eucommia Ulmoides ◽  
Pumping Rate ◽  
C Elegans ◽  
Beneficial Effects ◽  
Physiological Fitness ◽  
Pharyngeal Pumping ◽  
Cuscuta Chinensis

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.

scholarly journals Optogenetic manipulation of individual or whole population Caenorhabditis elegans worms with an under hundred-dollar tool: the OptoArm

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mandy Koopman ◽  
Leen Janssen ◽  
Ellen Nollen
Keyword(s):  
Caenorhabditis Elegans ◽  
Functional Decline ◽  
Cholinergic Neurons ◽  
Population Based ◽  
Excitable Cells ◽  
Population Based Study ◽  
C Elegans ◽  
Age Related ◽  
Light Color ◽  
Rate Limiting

Optogenetic tools have revolutionized the study of neuronal circuits in Caenorhabditis elegans. The expression of light-sensitive ion channels or pumps under specific promotors allows researchers to modify the behavior of excitable cells. Several optogenetic systems have been developed to spatially and temporally photoactivate light-sensitive actuators in C. elegans. Nevertheless, their high costs and low flexibility have limited wide access to optogenetics. Here, we developed an inexpensive, easy-to-build, and adjustable optogenetics device for use on different microscopes and worm trackers, called the OptoArm. The OptoArm allows for single- and multiple-worm illumination and is adaptable in terms of light intensity, lighting profiles and light-color. We demonstrate the OptoArm′s power in a population-based study on contributions of motor circuit cells to age-related motility decline. We find that functional decline of cholinergic neurons mirrors motor decline, while GABAergic neurons and muscle cells are relatively age-resilient, suggesting that rate-limiting cells exist and determine neuronal circuit aging.

scholarly journals Steroid hormones sulfatase inactivation extends lifespan and ameliorates age-related diseases

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mercedes M. Pérez-Jiménez ◽  
José M. Monje-Moreno ◽  
Ana María Brokate-Llanos ◽  
Mónica Venegas-Calerón ◽  
Alicia Sánchez-García ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Alzheimer’S Disease ◽  
Caenorhabditis Elegans ◽  
Protein Aggregation ◽  
Steroid Hormones ◽  
Sensory Neurons ◽  
Environmental Cues ◽  
Steroid Sulfatase ◽  
Loss Of Function ◽  
C Elegans ◽  
Age Related

AbstractAging and fertility are two interconnected processes. From invertebrates to mammals, absence of the germline increases longevity. Here we show that loss of function of sul-2, the Caenorhabditis elegans steroid sulfatase (STS), raises the pool of sulfated steroid hormones, increases longevity and ameliorates protein aggregation diseases. This increased longevity requires factors involved in germline-mediated longevity (daf-16, daf-12, kri-1, tcer-1 and daf-36 genes) although sul-2 mutations do not affect fertility. Interestingly, sul-2 is only expressed in sensory neurons, suggesting a regulation of sulfated hormones state by environmental cues. Treatment with the specific STS inhibitor STX64, as well as with testosterone-derived sulfated hormones reproduces the longevity phenotype of sul-2 mutants. Remarkably, those treatments ameliorate protein aggregation diseases in C. elegans, and STX64 also Alzheimer’s disease in a mammalian model. These results open the possibility of reallocating steroid sulfatase inhibitors or derivates for the treatment of aging and aging related diseases.

scholarly journals Ferrous-glutathione coupling mediates ferroptosis and frailty in Caenorhabditis elegans

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicole L. Jenkins ◽  
Simon A. James ◽  
Agus Salim ◽  
Fransisca Sumardy ◽  
Terence P. Speed ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cell Death ◽  
Caenorhabditis Elegans ◽  
Ferrous Iron ◽  
Somatic Tissue ◽  
Glutathione Depletion ◽  
Death Process ◽  
C Elegans ◽  
Regulated Cell Death ◽  
Age Related ◽  
Ageing Rate

All eukaryotes require iron. Replication, detoxification, and a cancer-protective form of regulated cell death termed ferroptosis1, all depend on iron metabolism. Ferrous iron accumulates over adult lifetime in the Caenorhabditis elegans model of ageing2. Here we show that glutathione depletion is coupled to ferrous iron elevation in these animals, and that both occur in late life to prime cells for ferroptosis. We demonstrate that blocking ferroptosis, either by inhibition of lipid peroxidation or by limiting iron retention, mitigates age-related cell death and markedly increases lifespan and healthspan in C. elegans. Temporal scaling of lifespan is not evident when ferroptosis is inhibited, consistent with this cell death process acting at specific life phases to induce organismal frailty, rather than contributing to a constant ageing rate. Because excess age-related iron elevation in somatic tissue, particularly in brain3–5, is thought to contribute to degenerative disease6, 7, our data indicate that post-developmental interventions to limit ferroptosis may promote healthy ageing.

Rubidium chloride increases lifespan through an AMPK/FOXO-dependent pathway in Caenorhabditis elegans

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mengjiao Hao ◽  
Zhikang Zhang ◽  
Yijun Guo ◽  
Huihao Zhou ◽  
Qiong Gu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Caenorhabditis Elegans ◽  
Stress Responses ◽  
Aging Effect ◽  
Stress Effect ◽  
Neuroprotective Effects ◽  
C Elegans ◽  
Cycle Arrest ◽  
Age Related ◽  
Promising Target ◽  
Amp Activated Protein Kinase

Abstract AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) is involved in life span maintenance, stress responses, and germ cell cycle arrest upon dauer entry. AMPK is currently considered a promising target for preventing age-related diseases. Rubidium is one of the trace elements in human body. As early as the 1970s, RbCl has been was reported to have neuroprotective effects. In this work, we report the anti-aging effect of RbCl in Caenorhabditis elegans. Specifically, we reveal that (1) RbCl does increase the lifespan and enhance stress resistance in C. elegans without disturbing their fecundity. (2) RbCl induces superoxide dismutase (SOD) expression, which is essential for its anti-aging and anti-stress effect. (3) AAK-2 and DAF-16 are essential to the anti-aging efficacy of RbCl, and RbCl can promote DAF-16 translocating into the nucleus, suggesting that RbCl delays aging through regulating AMPK/FOXO pathway. RbCl can be a promising agent against aging related diseases.

scholarly journals Secoisolariciresinol Diglucoside Delays the Progression of Aging-Related Diseases and Extends the Lifespan of Caenorhabditis elegans via DAF-16 and HSF-1

2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 ◽  
pp. 1-13
Author(s):  
Min Lu ◽  
Lin Tan ◽  
Xiao-Gang Zhou ◽  
Zhong-Lin Yang ◽  
Qing Zhu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Caenorhabditis Elegans ◽  
Body Movement ◽  
Mrna Level ◽  
Secoisolariciresinol Diglucoside ◽  
Neuroprotective Effects ◽  
Sesame Seeds ◽  
C Elegans ◽  
Age Related ◽  
6 Hydroxydopamine ◽  
And Oxidative Stress

Secoisolariciresinol diglucoside (SDG) is a phytoestrogen and rich in food flaxseed, sunflower seeds, and sesame seeds. Among the beneficial pharmacological activities of SDG on health, many are age related, such as anticancer, antidiabetes, antioxidant, and neuroprotective effects. Thus, we investigated if SDG had an effect on antiaging in Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans). Our results showed that SDG could extend the lifespan of C. elegans by up to 22.0%, delay age-related decline of body movement, reduce the lethality of heat and oxidative stress, alleviate dopamine neurodegeneration induced by 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA), and decrease the toxicity of Aβ protein in C. elegans. SDG could increase the expression of the downstream genes of DAF-16, DAF-12, NHR-80, and HSF-1 at mRNA level. SDG could not extend the lifespan of mutants from genes daf-16, hsf-1, nhr-80, daf-12, glp-1, eat-2, and aak-2. The above results suggested that SDG might enhance the stress resistance, delay the progression of aging-related diseases, and extend the lifespan of C. elegans via DAF-16 and HSF-1.

scholarly journals Electrophysiological Measures of Aging Pharynx Function in C. elegans Reveal Enhanced Organ Functionality in Older, Long-lived Mutants

2017 ◽  
Vol 74 (8) ◽  
pp. 1173-1179 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joshua Coulter Russell ◽  
Nikolay Burnaevskiy ◽  
Bridget Ma ◽  
Miguel Arenas Mailig ◽  
Franklin Faust ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Caenorhabditis Elegans ◽  
Heat Shock ◽  
Life Span ◽  
Insulin Signaling ◽  
Model System ◽  
Wild Type ◽  
Organ Function ◽  
C Elegans ◽  
Age Related ◽  
The Relationship

Abstract The function of the pharynx, an organ in the model system Caenorhabditis elegans, has been correlated with life span and motility (another measure of health) since 1980. In this study, in order to further understand the relationship between organ function and life span, we measured the age-related decline of the pharynx using an electrophysiological approach. We measured and analyzed electropharyngeograms (EPG) of wild type animals, short-lived hsf-1 mutants, and long-lived animals with genetically decreased insulin signaling or increased heat shock pathway signaling; we recorded a total of 2,478 EPGs from 1,374 individuals. As expected, the long-lived daf-2(e1370) and hsf-1OE(uthIs235) animals maintained pharynx function relatively closer to the youthful state during aging, whereas the hsf-1(sy441) and wild type animals’ pharynx function deviated significantly further from the youthful state at advanced age. Measures of the amount of variation in organ function can act as biomarkers of youthful physiology as well. Intriguingly, the long-lived animals had greater variation in the duration of pharynx contraction at older ages.

scholarly journals A scalable method for automatically measuring pharyngeal pumping in C. elegans

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Monika Scholz ◽  
Dylan J. Lynch ◽  
Kyung Suk Lee ◽  
Erel Levine ◽  
David Biron
Keyword(s):  
Caenorhabditis Elegans ◽  
Food Availability ◽  
High Throughput ◽  
Visual Inspection ◽  
Automated Analysis ◽  
C Elegans ◽  
Automated Method ◽  
Controlled Environments ◽  
Pharyngeal Pumping ◽  
Feeding Environments

We describe a scalable automated method for measuring the pharyngeal pumping of Caenorhabditis elegans in controlled environments. Our approach enables unbiased measurements for prolonged periods, a high throughput, and measurements in controlled yet dynamically changing feeding environments. The automated analysis compares well with scoring pumping by visual inspection, a common practice in the field. In addition, we observed overall low rates of pharyngeal pumping and long correlation times when food availability was oscillated.

scholarly journals NemaLife: A structured microfluidic culture device optimized for aging studies in crawling C. elegans

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mizanur Rahman ◽  
Hunter Edwards ◽  
Nikolajs Birze ◽  
Rebecca Gabrilska ◽  
Kendra P. Rumbaugh ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
The Body ◽  
Physiological Data ◽  
Aging Research ◽  
C Elegans ◽  
Age Related ◽  
Technology Platforms ◽  
Aging Studies ◽  
Pharyngeal Pumping ◽  
Culture Maintenance

AbstractCaenorhabditis elegans is a powerful animal model in aging research. Standard longevity assays on agar plates involve the tedious task of picking and transferring animals to prevent younger progeny from contaminating age-synchronized adult populations. Large-scale studies employ progeny-blocking drugs or sterile mutants to avoid progeny contamination, but such manipulations change adult physiology and alter the influence of reproduction on normal aging. Moreover, for some agar growth-based technology platforms, such as automated lifespan machines, reagents such as food or drugs cannot be readily added/removed after initiation of the study. Current microfluidic approaches are well-suited to address these limitations, but in their liquid-based environments animals swim rather than crawl, introducing swim-induced stress in the lifespan analysis. Here we report a simple microfluidic device that we call NemaLife that features: 1) an optimized micropillar arena in which animals can crawl, 2) sieve channels that separate progeny and prevent the loss of adults from the arena during culture maintenance, and 3) ports which allow rapid accessibility to feed the adult-only population and introduce reagents as needed. Culture maintenance and liquid manipulation are performed with simple hand-held syringes to facilitate integration of our technology into general laboratory protocols. Additionally, device geometry and feeding protocols were designed to emulate the body gait, locomotion, and lifespan of animals reared on agar. We validated our approach with longevity analyses of classical aging mutants (daf-2, age-1, eat-2, and daf-16) and animals subjected to RNAi knockdown of age-related genes (age-1 and daf-16). We also showed that healthspan measures such as pharyngeal pumping and tap-induced stimulated reversals can be scored across the lifespan. Overall, the capacity to generate reliable lifespan and physiological data from the NemaLife chip underscores the potential of this device to accelerate healthspan and lifespan investigations in C. elegans.

scholarly journals An economical and highly adaptable optogenetics system for individual and population-level manipulation of Caenorhabditis elegans

BMC Biology ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Koopman ◽  
L. Janssen ◽  
E. A. A. Nollen
Keyword(s):  
Caenorhabditis Elegans ◽  
Light Stimulus ◽  
Cholinergic Neurons ◽  
Model Organisms ◽  
Parameter Study ◽  
Multiple Model ◽  
Excitable Cells ◽  
Specific Expression ◽  
C Elegans ◽  
Age Related

Abstract Background Optogenetics allows the experimental manipulation of excitable cells by a light stimulus without the need for technically challenging and invasive procedures. The high degree of spatial, temporal, and intensity control that can be achieved with a light stimulus, combined with cell type-specific expression of light-sensitive ion channels, enables highly specific and precise stimulation of excitable cells. Optogenetic tools have therefore revolutionized the study of neuronal circuits in a number of models, including Caenorhabditis elegans. Despite the existence of several optogenetic systems that allow spatial and temporal photoactivation of light-sensitive actuators in C. elegans, their high costs and low flexibility have limited wide access to optogenetics. Here, we developed an inexpensive, easy-to-build, modular, and adjustable optogenetics device for use on different microscopes and worm trackers, which we called the OptoArm. Results The OptoArm allows for single- and multiple-worm illumination and is adaptable in terms of light intensity, lighting profiles, and light color. We demonstrate OptoArm’s power in a population-based multi-parameter study on the contributions of motor circuit cells to age-related motility decline. We found that individual components of the neuromuscular system display different rates of age-dependent deterioration. The functional decline of cholinergic neurons mirrors motor decline, while GABAergic neurons and muscle cells are relatively age-resilient, suggesting that rate-limiting cells exist and determine neuronal circuit ageing. Conclusion We have assembled an economical, reliable, and highly adaptable optogenetics system which can be deployed to address diverse biological questions. We provide a detailed description of the construction as well as technical and biological validation of our set-up. Importantly, use of the OptoArm is not limited to C. elegans and may benefit studies in multiple model organisms, making optogenetics more accessible to the broader research community.

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