Antiaging Effect of 4-N-Furfurylcytosine in Yeast Model Manifests through Enhancement of Mitochondrial Activity and ROS Reduction

Abstract

Small compounds are a large group of chemicals characterized by various biological properties. Some of them also have antiaging potential, which is mainly attributed to their antioxidant activity. In this study, we examined the antiaging effect of 4-N-Furfurylcytosine (FC), a cytosine derivative belonging to a group of small compounds, on budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. We chose this yeast model as it is known to contain multiple conserved genes and mechanisms identical to that of humans and has been proven to be successful in aging research. The chronological lifespan assay performed in the study revealed that FC improved the viability of yeast cells in a concentration-dependent manner. Furthermore, enhanced mitochondrial activity, together with reduced intracellular ROS level, was observed in FC-treated yeast cells. The gene expression analysis confirmed that FC treatment resulted in the restriction of the TORC1 signaling pathway. These results indicate that FC has antiaging properties.

A New Role for Yeast Cells in Health and Nutrition: Antioxidant Power Assessment

“…Moreover, yeasts and especially the budding yeast S. cerevisiae are very often used as eukaryotic cell models to study stress response, aging mechanisms and specific cellular effects of pro-and antioxidant molecules. In these studies, several different tests are used to assess either the oxidative stress level or the antioxidant power of molecules added to fight this stress (see for examples [28][29][30][31]). The most commonly used method is exposing yeast cells to a strong oxidant agent such as H 2 O 2 , and the most classical read-out for their response is a simple viability test: yeast cells are plated on a solid-agar-rich growth medium and incubated at 28 • C for 72 h, and finally colonies formed are counted.…”

Exploring the anti-aging potential of natural products and plant extracts in budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae: A review

“…This points to the fact that FC's anti-aging activity is through the inhibition of TOR signaling pathway. 40 Gentirigeoside B and gentiopicroside Gentirigeoside B is a triterpenoid glycoside isolated from the Chinese traditional medicinal plant Gentiana rigescens Franch. Xiang, L., et al reported that gentirigeoside B significantly extended both the replicative and chronological lifespan of yeast.…”