Skip to main content

Hormetic effects on longevity of hydrogen peroxide in Drosophila melanogaster flies living on a poorly nutritious medium

Biogerontology volume 8, pages 327–344 (2007)Cite this article

Abstract

Subjecting flies to a mild stress at a young age may increase longevity and protect against strong stresses occurring at middle age. The purpose of this article is to test whether a mild stress could also increase survival time of flies living in stressful conditions. Flies were transferred at middle age in vials where they could only feed on a saccharose solution without any other nutrient. This poor medium is known to decrease longevity and it was hypothetized that adding hydrogen peroxide to it could minimize this negative effect. While high doses of hydrogen peroxide decreased further longevity, a low dose increased it in 4-week-old males and, only in some experiments, in females. This low dose had however not any positive effect on behavioral aging, resistance to heat and starvation. The positive effect of hydrogen peroxide appeared not to be due to a sanitary action upon the environment. Rather, it seems that hydrogen peroxide was a mild stress helping flies to cope with the negative effects of saccharose on longevity. Therefore, it is concluded that hydrogen peroxide, beyond the deleterious effects of high doses, could have positive effects in organisms when used at a low dose, particularly in stressful living conditions.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution.

Access options

Buy single article

Instant access to the full article PDF.

43,34 €

Price includes VAT (Finland)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5

References

  • Brummel T, Ching A, Seroude L, Simon AF, Benzer S (2004) Drosophila lifespan enhancement by exogenous bacteria. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 101:12974–12979

    PubMed  Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Calabrese EJ (2006) The failure of dose–response models to predict low dose effects: a major challenge for biomedical, toxicological and aging research. Biogerontology 7:119–122

    PubMed  Article  Google Scholar 

  • Calabrese EJ, Baldwin LA (2001) Hormesis: a generalizable and unifying hypothesis. Crit Rev Toxicol 31:353–421

    PubMed  Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Carvalho GB, Kapahi P, Benzer S (2005) Compensatory ingestion upon dietary restriction in Drosophila melanogaster. Nat Methods 2:813–815

    PubMed  Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Courgeon AM, Rollet E, Becker J, Maisonhaute C, Best-Belpomme M (1988) Hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) induces actin and some heat-shock proteins in Drosophila cells. Eur J Biochem 171:163–170

    PubMed  Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Cypser JR, Johnson TE (2002) Multiple stressors in Caenorhabditis elegans induce stress hormesis and extended longevity. J Gerontol Biol Sci 57A:B109–B114

    Google Scholar 

  • Driver CJI, Wallis R, Cosopodiotis G (1986) Is a fat metabolite the major diet dependent accelerator of aging? Exp Gerontol 21:497–507

    PubMed  Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Edgecomb RS, Harth CE, Schneiderman AM (1994) Regulation of feeding behavior in adult Drosophila melanogaster varies with feeding regime and nutritional state. J Exp Biol 197:215–235

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Feany MB, Bender WW (2000) A Drosophila model of Parkinson’s disease. Nature 404:394–398

    PubMed  Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Harman D (1956) Aging. A theory based on free radical and radiation chemistry. J Gerontol 11:298–300

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Hercus MJ, Loeschcke V, Rattan SIS (2003) Lifespan extension of Drosophila melanogaster through hormesis by repeated mild heat stress. Biogerontology 4:149–156

    PubMed  Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Hollingsworth MJ, Burcombe JV (1970) The nutritional requirements for longevity in Drosophila. J Insect Physiol 16:1017–1025

    PubMed  Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kircher HW, Al-Azawi B (1985) Longevity of seven species of cactophilic Drosophila and D. melanogaster on carbohydrates. J Insect Physiol 31:165–169

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Le Bourg E (2003) Delaying aging: could the study of hormesis be more helpful than that of the genetic pathway used to survive starvation? Biogerontology 4:319–324

    PubMed  Article  Google Scholar 

  • Le Bourg E (2004) Effects of aging on learned suppression of photopositive tendencies in Drosophila melanogaster. Neurobiol Aging 25:1241–1252

    PubMed  Article  Google Scholar 

  • Le Bourg E (2005) Hormetic protection of Drosophila melanogaster middle-aged male flies from heat stress by mildly stressing them at young age. Naturwissenschaften 92:293–296

    PubMed  Article  Google Scholar 

  • Le Bourg E, Buecher C (2002) Learned suppression of photopositive tendencies in Drosophila melanogaster. Anim Learn Behav 30:330–341

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Le Bourg E, Minois N (1996) Failure to confirm increased longevity in Drosophila melanogaster flies submitted to a food restriction procedure. J Gerontol Biol Sci 51A:B280–B283

    Google Scholar 

  • Le Bourg E, Minois N (1997) Increased longevity and resistance to heat shock in Drosophila melanogaster flies exposed to hypergravity. C R Acad Sci Paris 320:215–221

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Le Bourg E, Minois N (1999) A mild stress, hypergravity exposure, postpones behavioral aging in Drosophila melanogaster. Exp Gerontol 34:157–172

    PubMed  Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Le Bourg E, Minois N, Bullens P, Baret P (2000) A mild stress due to hypergravity exposure at young age increases longevity in Drosophila melanogaster males. Biogerontology 1:145–155

    PubMed  Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Le Bourg E, Valenti P, Lucchetta P, Payre F (2001) Effects of mild heat shocks at young age on aging and longevity in Drosophila melanogaster. Biogerontology 2:155–164

    PubMed  Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Le Bourg E, Valenti P, Payre F (2002) Lack of hypergravity-associated longevity extension in Drosophila melanogaster files overexpressing hsp70. Biogerontology 3:355–364

    PubMed  Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Le Bourg E, Toffin E, Massé A (2004) Male Drosophila melanogaster flies exposed to hypergravity at young age are protected against a non-lethal heat shock at middle age but not against behavioral impairments due to this shock. Biogerontology 5:431–443

    PubMed  Article  Google Scholar 

  • Min KJ, Tatar M (2006) Drosophila diet restriction in practice: do flies consume fewer nutrients? Mech Ageing Dev 127:93–96

    PubMed  Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Minois N, Rattan SIS (2003) Hormesis in aging and longevity. In: Rattan SIS (ed) Modulating aging and longevity. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht, pp 127–137

    Google Scholar 

  • Miquel J, Lundgren PR, Binnard R (1972) Negative geotaxis and mating behavior in control and gamma-irradiated Drosophila. Drosoph Inf Serv 48:60–61

    Google Scholar 

  • Mockett RJ, Bayne ACV, Kwong LK, Orr WC, Sohal RS (2003) Ectopic expression of catalase in Drosophila mitochondria increases stress resistance but not longevity. Free Radic Biol Med 34:207–217

    PubMed  Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Pearl R, Allen A, Penniman WBD (1926) Culture media for Drosophila. II. A new synthetic medium and its influence on fertility at different densities of population. Am Nat 60:357–366

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Tapia PC (2006) Sublethal mitochondrial stress with an attendant stoichiometric augmentation of reactive oxygen species may precipitate many of the beneficial alterations in cellular physiology produces by caloric restriction, intermittent fasting, exercise and dietary phytonutrients: “mitohormesis” for health and vitality. Med Hypotheses 66:832–843

    PubMed  Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Thompson ED, Reeder BA, Bruce RD (1991) Characterization of a method for quantitating food consumption for mutation assays in Drosophila. Environ Mol Mutagen 18:14–21

    PubMed  Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Vaiserman AM, Koshel NM, Litoshenko AY, Mozzhukina TG, Voitenko VP (2003) Effects of X-irradiation in early ontogenesis on the longevity and amount of the S1 nuclease-sensitive DNA sites in adult Drosophila melanogaster. Biogerontology 4:9–14

    PubMed  Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Affiliations

  1. Centre de recherche sur la cognition animale, Université Paul-Sabatier, UMR CNRS 5169, 118 route de Narbonne, 31062, Toulouse cedex 9, France

    Éric Le Bourg

Authors
  1. Éric Le Bourg
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Éric Le Bourg.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Le Bourg, É. Hormetic effects on longevity of hydrogen peroxide in Drosophila melanogaster flies living on a poorly nutritious medium. Biogerontology 8, 327–344 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10522-006-9077-z

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10522-006-9077-z

Keywords

  • Drosophila melanogaster
  • Behavioral aging
  • Longevity
  • Hydrogen peroxide
  • Heat stress
  • Starvation
  • Mild stress
  • Hormesis