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. 2013 Apr 2;2(1):5.
doi: 10.1186/2046-2395-2-5.

Lifespan extension and delay of age-related functional decline caused by Rhodiola rosea depends on dietary macronutrient balance

Dmytro V Gospodaryov, Ihor S Yurkevych, Mahtab Jafari, Volodymyr I Lushchak, Oleh V Lushchak  1
Affiliations

Lifespan extension and delay of age-related functional decline caused by Rhodiola rosea depends on dietary macronutrient balance

Dmytro V Gospodaryov et al. Longev Healthspan. .

Erratum in

Abstract

Background: This study was conducted to evaluate the effects of rhizome powder from the herb Rhodiola rosea, a traditional Western Ukraine medicinal adaptogen, on lifespan and age-related physiological functions of the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster.

Results: Flies fed food supplemented with 5.0 mg/ml and 10.0 mg/ml of R. rosea rhizome powder had a 14% to 17% higher median lifespan, whereas at 30.0 mg/ml lifespan was decreased by 9% to 12%. The preparation did not decrease fly fecundity.The effect of R. rosea supplement on lifespan was dependent on diet composition. Lifespan extension by 15% to 21% was observed only for diets with protein-to-carbohydrate ratios less than 1. Lifespan extension was also dependent on total concentration of macronutrients. Thus, for the diet with 15% yeast and 15% sucrose there was no lifespan extension, while for the diet with protein-to-carbohydrate ratio 20:1 R. rosea decreased lifespan by about 10%.Flies fed Rhodiola preparation were physically more active, less sensitive to the redox-cycling compound menadione and had a longer time of heat coma onset compared with controls. Positive effects of Rhodiola rhizome on stress resistance and locomotor activity were highest at the 'middle age'.

Conclusions: The present data show that long-term food supplementation with R. rosea rhizome not only increases D. melanogaster lifespan, but also delays age-related decline of physical activity and increases stress resistance, what depends on protein-to-carbohydrate ratio of the diet.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Survivorship of female (A) and male (B) flies fed with different concentrations of R. rosea rhizome. Results are representative of three separate experiments with about 100 to 400 flies per sex, per diet.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Effect of R. rosea supplement on food consumption rate. The difference between 6- and 16-day-old females is significant with P < 0.05 on 5S:5Y and 15S:15Y diets as evaluated by Student’s t test.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Estimates of Gompertz equation parameters for the fly cohorts fed diets with different concentrations of R. rosea rhizome (A and C – A and α, respectively, for female cohorts, B and D – for male ones). Error bars show the standard error of the parameter. All fit values were reliable (P< 0.05 by Student’s t-test).
Figure 4
Figure 4
Climbing activity of (A) female and (B) male flies fed by food with different concentrations of R. rosea rhizome. Results are representative of two independent experiments. *Significantly different (P < 0.05) from control group as evaluated by Dunnett’s test.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Time of heat coma onset (A and B for females and males, respectively) and recovery (C and D for females and males, respectively) for flies fed food with different concentrations of R. rosea rhizome. Results are representative of four independent experiments. *Significantly different (P < 0.05) from control group as evaluated by Dunnett’s test.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Survival of (A) female and (B) male flies fed with different concentrations of R. rosea rhizome after exposure to 20 mM menadione. Groups of flies of the indicated ages were taken from the cohorts and transferred to the vials with paper soaked in a solution containing 5% sucrose and 20 mM menadione sodium bisulfite. The percentage of survivors was determined after 24 h. Results are representative of four independent experiments. *Significantly different (P < 0.05) from control group as evaluated by Dunnett’s test.
Figure 7
Figure 7
Fecundity of flies fed with different concentrations of R. rosea rhizome supplement at different ages. *Significantly different (P < 0.05) from control group as evaluated by Dunnett’s test.
Figure 8
Figure 8
Mating speed (A), copulation duration (B), percentages of copulated pairs (C) and mated females (D), and number of flies eclosed from eggs (E) for flies fed with control food or with food supplemented by 5 mg/ml Rhodiola rhizome. Significance of difference between groups was assessed using Student’s t test.
Figure 9
Figure 9
Effect of protein-to-carbohydrate ratio (P:C) on lifespan extension by R. rosea rhizome preparation. A, mean lifespan of females fed with control diets with different P:C ratios; B, mean lifespan of females fed diets with different P:C ratios and additionally supplemented with 5 mg/ml R. rosea rhizome powder; C, percent of lifespan extension by R. rosea on diets with different P:C ratios.
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