Desiccation-tolerant organisms can survive dehydration in a state of anhydrobiosis. Tardigrades can recover from anhydrobiosis at any life stage and are considered among the toughest animals on Earth. However, the factors that influence recovery from anhydrobiosis are not well understood. The study aimed to evaluate the effect of sex, age, occurrence in a group and the combination of the number and duration of anhydrobiosis episodes on the recovery of Paramacrobiotus experimentalis. The activity of 1,200 individuals for up to 48 hours after rehydration was evaluated using ANOVA. Age was the main factor influencing return to activity, followed by the number and duration of anhydrobiosis episodes, group influence, and sex. More individuals returned to activity after repeated short than repeated long anhydrobiosis episodes and older individuals were less likely to recover than younger individuals. In addition, more individuals were active after rehydration in groups than individually. The effect of sex was significant, but there was no general tendency for one sex to recover from anhydrobiosis better than the other one. The results contribute to a better understanding of the anhydrobiosis ability of Pam. experimentalis and provide background for evolutionary, molecular and environmental mechanisms of anhydrobiosis ability.
Anhydrobiosis is induced by loss of water and indicates dehydration tolerance. Survival of dehydration is possible through changes at different levels of organism organization, including a remarkable reduction in metabolic activity at the cellular level. Thus, anhydrobiosis may be regarded as an anti-aging strategy. Accordingly, two hypotheses named after popular stories, “Sleeping Beauty” and “The Picture of Dorian Gray”, were proposed to explain the effect of anhydrobiosis on aging. The two hypotheses predict the presence (The Picture of Dorian Gray) or absence (Sleeping Beauty) of observable aging symptoms for animals undergoing anhydrobiosis. Predictions of these hypotheses have rarely been tested, and the cellular level has not been addressed. Tardigrades appear to be a useful model for studying the effect of anhydrobiosis on aging, as they are able to enter and survive anhydrobiosis at any stage of life, although not with the same success for all species. In this review, we discuss anhydrobiosis and aging mechanisms as well as tardigrade diversity and indicate possible multilevel markers that can be used to study the impact of anhydrobiosis on tardigrade aging. This review provides data on tardigrade diversity that may also be useful for human aging studies.
Background Tardigrades, considered among animals the most resistant to complete loss of body water (desiccation) occurring during anhydrobiosis, are also interesting because of their place between the two primary invertebrate model organisms (Caenorhabditis elegans and Drosophila melanogaster). The effect of anhydrobiosis intensification on tardigrades’ age-specific survival has rarely been studied. The eutardigrade Paramacrobiotus experimenatlis is an excellent model of the study because their remarkable capacity for anhydrobiosis. This gives also possibility to apply the species in research on anhydrobiosis as an anti-aging strategy. Aim: Main goal of present study was to determine the effect of anhydrobiosis intensification, due to application of different duration and numbers of desiccation episodes, on the age-specific survival of Pam. experimenatlis. Methods Tardigrades were cultured under laboratory conditions, divided according to their age and sex, and subjected to several short and long desiccation episodes (3 and 30 days, respectively). The revival from desiccation was evaluated after 2-48h following rehydration. Results Individuals` age and anhydrobiosis intensity affected tardigrades` survival. Young adult animals survived the best, and the oldest ones the worst. The number of desiccation episodes affected animal survival stronger than desiccation duration. Conclusion The results are important for anhydrobiosis study as an-anti aging strategy. The work was supported by the research grants of the National Science Centre, Poland, NCN: 2016/21/B/NZ4/00131 and 2021/41/N/NZ3/01165.
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