To explore the effect of Ligusticam chuanxiong extract (CXE) on lifespan of Caenorhabditis elegans and investigate its underlyirig molecular mechanisms.
The lifespan assay was carried out on animals grouped into blank control group and CXE groups with concentration from low to high: 12.5, 25, 50, 100 mg x L(-1) by examining the effect of CXE on mean lifespan and maximum lifespan of C. elegans. According to the result of lifespan assay, we cultured the animals with the optimal concentration of CXE for 10 days, and tested the expression change of aging-related genes between the control and CXE group by realtime RT-PCR (qRT-PCR).
Compared with the control, 25, 50, 100 mg x L(-1) CXE all significantly extended the mean lifespan (15.7%, 9.1%, 6.2% respectively) and the maximum lifespan (15.0%, 6.8%, 6.6% respectively) of C. elegans. After treatment with 25 mg x L(-1) CXE the expression of hsp-70, skn-1 were obviously up-regulated while the expression of akt-2, tub-1 were significantly down-regulated.
CXE significantly extend the lifespan of C. elegans, and the underlying molecular mechanism is related with genes of Insulin/IGF-1 signaling pathway and dietary restriction system.