RT Journal Article SR Electronic T1 Ayurvedic Amalaki Rasayana promotes improved stress tolerance and thus has anti-aging effects in Drosophila melanogaster JF bioRxiv FD Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory SP 050476 DO 10.1101/050476 A1 Vibha Dwivedi A1 Subhash C. Lakhotia YR 2016 UL http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2016/04/26/050476.abstract AB Ethnopharmacological relevance Amalaki Rasayana (AR), a common Ayurvedic herbal formulation of Phyllanthus emblica fruits and other ingredients and used for general good health and healthy aging, was reported earlier to improve life history traits and suppress neurodegeneration and induced apoptosis in Drosophila.Aim of the study To examine effects of dietary AR supplement on cell stress responses in Drosophila melanogaster.Materials and methods Healthy larvae/flies, reared on normal food or on that supplemented with 0.5% (w/v) AR, were exposed to crowding, thermal or oxidative stress and examined for survival, stress tolerance and levels of lipid peroxides, SOD and HSPs.Results Wild type larvae/flies reared on AR supplemented food survived the various cell stresses much better than those reared on normal food. AR-fed mutant park13 or DJ-1βDelta93 larvae, however, showed only partial or no protection, respectively, against paraquat-induced oxidative stress. AR feeding reduced the accumulation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and lipid peroxidation in 35 day old wild type flies while enhancing superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity. Interestingly, while Hsp70 or Hsp83 expression under normal or stress conditions was not differentially affected by AR feeding, levels of Hsp27 were elevated in AR fed wild type control as well as heat shocked larvae. Therefore, besides the known anti-oxidant activity of Phyllanthus emblica fruits, dietary AR also enhanced cellular levels of Hsp27.Conclusion AR feeding provides better cell stress tolerance through multiple pathways. Taken in conjunction with our earlier findings, AR promotes “healthy aging” and enhanced life span through better homeostasis and stress tolerance.