Journal
JOURNAL OF COMPARATIVE PHYSIOLOGY B-BIOCHEMICAL SYSTEMIC AND ENVIRONMENTAL PHYSIOLOGY
Volume 187, Issue 7, Pages 899-909Publisher
SPRINGER HEIDELBERG
DOI: 10.1007/s00360-017-1061-1
Keywords
Longevity; Ethanol; Aging; Free radicals; Antioxidant enzymes
Categories
Funding
- Department of Science and Technology, Government of India under INSPIRE fellowship program
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Gender differences in lifespan and aging are known across species. Sex differences in longevity within a species can be useful to understand sex-specific aging. Drosophila melanogaster is a good model to study the problem of sex differences in longevity since females are longer lived than males. There is evidence that stress resistance influences longevity. The objective of this study was to investigate if there is a relationship between sex differences in longevity and oxidative stress resistance in D. melanogaster. We observed a progressive age-dependent decrease in the activity of SOD and catalase, major antioxidant enzymes involved in defense mechanisms against oxidative stress in parallel to the increased ROS levels over time. Longer-lived females showed lower ROS levels and higher antioxidant enzymes than males as a function of age. Using ethanol as a stressor, we have shown differential susceptibility of the sexes to ethanol wherein females exhibited higher resistance to ethanol-induced mortality and locomotor behavior compared to males. Our results show strong correlation between sex differences in oxidative stress resistance, antioxidant defenses and longevity. The study suggests that higher antioxidant defenses in females may confer resistance to oxidative stress, which could be a factor that influences sex-specific aging in D. melanogaster.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available