Dietary Supplementation of Citric acid (monohydrate) Improves Health Span in Drosophila melanogaster

Abstract

Citric acid is a biochemical compound present in variety of citrus fruits. Citrate plays a vital role in production of energy (ATP) via Tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle and also involve in Fatty acid (FA) synthesis in cytoplasm. The objective of this study is to evaluate the effect of citric acid supplementation on health span in Drosophila melanogaster. OregonR + fly used in most of the experiments. Body weight of male and female flies fed on normal and citric acid mixed diet was determined, locomotor assay and anti-oxidant activity associated with citric acid was measured by performing superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase (CAT) enzymatic assay. Fat content in citric acid fed flies was evaluated by Oil Red O staining in fat body tissues of adult Drosophila. Reverse trascriptase PCR (RT-PCR) analysis was performed to check the expression level of Brummer (bmm) and Fatty acid Synthase (FAS) genes. In the present study we have shown that supplementation of citric acid reduces body weight of male and female flies, improves locomotor activity of Alzheimeric flies, reduces oxidative stress and increases FA synthesis in Drosophila. Here, we concluded that supplementation of citric acid (monohydrate) improves health span in Drosophila.

Mitochondrial aconitase 1 regulates age‐related memory impairment via autophagy/mitophagy‐mediated neural plasticity in middle‐aged flies

“…When aging progresses, the activity of mAcon1 in the thoracic flight muscles of Drosophila decreases (Yan et al, 1997). Feeding citrate increases the lifespan of Drosophila (Patel et al, 2016). Thus, the expression effect of mAcon1 may appear through acetyl-CoA or citrate, even in peripheral tissues.…”