Nutr Res Pract.  2011 Jun;5(3):214-218.

High glucose diets shorten lifespan of Caenorhabditis elegans via ectopic apoptosis induction

• Choi SS

Abstract

Diets based on carbohydrates increase rapidly the blood glucose level due to the fast conversion of carbohydrates to glucose. High glucose diets have been known to induce many lifestyle diseases. Here, we demonstrated that high glucose diet shortened the lifespan of Caenorhabditis elegans through apoptosis induction. Control adult groups without glucose diet lived for 30 days, whereas animals fed 10 mg/L of D-glucose lived only for 20 days. The reduction of lifespan by glucose diet showed a dose-dependent profile in the concentration range of glucose from 1 to 20 mg/L. Aging effect of high glucose diet was examined by measurement of response time for locomotion after stimulating movement of the animals by touching. Glucose diet decreased the locomotion capacity of the animals during mid-adulthood. High glucose diets also induced ectopic apoptosis in the body of C. elegans, which is a potent mechanism that can explain the shortened lifespan and aging. Apoptotic cell corpses stained with SYTO 12 were found in the worms fed 10 mg/L of glucose. Mutation of core apoptotic regulatory genes, CED-3 and CED-4, inhibited the reduction of viability induced by high glucose diet, which indicates that these regulators were required for glucose-induced apoptosis or lifespan shortening. Thus, we conclude that high glucose diets have potential for inducing ectopic apoptosis in the body, resulting in a shortened lifespan accompanied with loss of locomotion capacity.

Keyword

Glucose; lifespan; apoptosis; locomotion; aging

MeSH Terms

Adult
Aging
Animals
Apoptosis
Blood Glucose
Cadaver
Caenorhabditis
Caenorhabditis elegans
Carbohydrates
Diet
Genes, Regulator
Glucose
Humans
Life Style
Locomotion
Reaction Time
Blood Glucose
Carbohydrates
Glucose

Figure

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  Fig. 1 High glucose diets shorten lifespan of C. elegans. (A) Effect of glucose diet (10 mg/L) on lifespan of animals. In each experiment, 100 animals at L4 larvae stage were initially placed on NGM agar plates and transferred to new fresh plates every day. (B) Viability of animals fed various concentrations of glucose at day 10 during adulthood. Values represent means ± SD of quadruple measurements (n = 400, *P < 0.01).

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  Fig. 2 Glucose diets decrease locomotion capacity of adult C. elegans. Heads of animals were touched by an eyelash, and movement was recorded by a camera connected to a microscope until movement stopped. From the motion pictures, the time of locomotion was measured. Values represent means ± SD of 100 animals fed each concentration of glucose (*P < 0.01).

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  Fig. 3 Glucose diets induce ectopic apoptosis in C. elegans. (A) DIC image of animal with apoptotic cell corpses (arrow). (B) Fluorescence image of animal with glowing cell corpses stained by SYTO 12 (arrow). Images were taken under a Zeiss microscope using × 100 objective lens with DIC or red fluorescence filters. Scale bars are 20 µm.

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  Fig. 4 CED-3 and CED-4 are required for glucose diet-induced apoptosis. Viabilities increased in the strains with mutations of pro-apoptotic regulators, CED-3 and CED-4, at day 10 of adulthood in comparison with wild-type N2 worms fed 10 mg/L of glucose. Values represent means ± SD of quadruple measurements (n = 400, *P < 0.01).

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