Influense of curcumin on lifespan if it is applied at the larval stage of drosophila melanogaster

Abstract

In this study we have applied the different doses of curcumin at the larval stages of a fruitfly Drosophila melanogaster and subsequently ivestigated its effect on the developmental duration and life expectancy of imago. It has been shown a 2-day delay in the hatching of the flies, which were developing in the medium containing 500 mM of curcumin. Exposure to curcumin significantly influenced on the average and maximum lifespan (ALS and MLS respectively) of all Drosofila in the study: ALS – F=13.01, p<0.001 for males and F=14.3, p<0.001 for females; MLS – F=35.9, p<0.001 for males and F=16.7, p <0.001 for females. Thus, the ALS in the males, which at the larval stage were kept in the medium containing 125 mM, 250 mM and 500 mM of curcumin, was significantly higher (p<0.001) comparing to the control. In females, such kind of significant increase in ALS has been shown at a dose of 500 mM of curcumin (p<0.001) in the medium during the developmental stage comparing to the control. In other words, the ALS of the imago has increased in correlation to the increase in the dose of curcumin applied at the developmental stage in males by 9%, 16%, 13%, and 23% and in females by 0%, 1%, 3%, 16% respectively. There has been also shown the sharp raise in MLS in both males and females, which at the larval stage were kept in the medium containing more than 125 mM of curcumin. To sum up we can assume that in this study consumption of curcumin at the larval stage of fruit flies significantly increased the developmental duration and life span of adult Drosophila, and this may demonstrate the effect of curcumin on the epigenetic programming of pace of life. Keywords: Development; Life span; Curcumin; Drosophila