Gengnianchun Extends the Lifespan of Caenorhabditis elegans via the Insulin/IGF-1 Signalling Pathway.

Gengnianchun (GNC), a traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), is believed to have beneficial effects on ageing-related diseases, such as antioxidant properties and effects against A β -induced toxicity. We previously found that GNC extended the lifespan of Caenorhabditis elegans . However, the mechanism underlying this effect was unclear. In this study, we further explored the mechanisms of GNC using a C. elegans model. GNC significantly increased the lifespan of C. elegans and enhanced oxidative and thermal stress resistance. Moreover, chemotaxis increased after GNC treatment. RNA-seq analysis showed that GNC regulated genes associated with longevity. We also conducted lifespan assays with a series of worm mutants. The results showed that GNC significantly extended the lifespan of several mutant strains, including eat-2 (ad465), rsks-1 (ok1255), and glp-1 (e2144), suggesting that the prolongevity effect of GNC is independent of the function of these genes. However, GNC failed to extend the lifespan of daf-2 (e1370), age-1 (hx546), and daf-16 (mu86) mutant strains. Our findings suggest that GNC extends the lifespan of C. elegans via the insulin/IGF-1 signalling pathway and may be a potential antiageing agent.