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Updated: Aug 14, 2025
Lipid Supplementation for Longevity and Gene Transcriptional Analysis in Caenorhabditis elegans
Published on: December 9, 2022
Linolenic acid ameliorates sarcopenia in C. elegans by promoting mitophagy and fighting oxidative stress
Lu Zhang1, Xueyi Zhang1, Tao Zhang1
1National Engineering Research Center for Functional Food, Collaborative Innovation Center of Food Safety and Quality Control in Jiangsu Province, School of Food Science and Technology, Jiangnan University, Wuxi, Jiangsu 214122, China. chang@jiangnan.edu.cn.
Abstract:
Sarcopenia is a syndrome of age-related loss of muscle mass and strength that seriously affects human health, and there are currently no effective drugs to treat the disease. Linolenic acid as a common n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid (n-3 PUFA) is known to have many beneficial functions. Some studies have found that n-3 PUFA might have the potential to improve sarcopenia. In this study, Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans) was used as a model animal to investigate the effects of linolenic acid on C. elegans muscles. The results showed that 50 μg mL-1 linolenic acid significantly improved sarcopenia by repairing mitochondrial function by promoting mitophagy and fighting oxidative stress (p < 0.05). This included the increase of the expression of the mitophagy gene pink-1 and DAF-16/FOXO transcription factors, respectively, by linolenic acid. This study could provide some evidence for the application of n-3 PUFA in improving sarcopenia.
