Study of the Effects of Pterostilbene on Longevity and Neuroinflammation

Increasing experimental data suggests that the regular intake of polyphenols represents a potential way to improve the quality of life in aging. Pterostilbene is a derivative of the polyphenols resveratrol that has higher bioavailability and neuroprotective activity than resveratrol itself. The present study was carried out to investigate the anti-aging and anti- inflammatory effects of a lifelong dietary supplementation of pterostilbene in Drosophila melanogaster focusing on the expression of genes related to lifespan and senescence regulation (SIRT1; FOXO; p16; NOTCH) or to inflammatory response (DOME and Eiger1), after 2 weeks (T1) or 2 months (T2) of pterostilbene supplementation. To test the anti- neuroinflammatory effect of pterostilbene, the expression of IL1 and iNOS has been investigated by RT-PCR in BV2 microglial cells stimulated with LPS. Pterostilbene supplementation significantly increased the mean life span of both male and female fruit flies. Consistently, pterostilbene supplementation significantly increased NOTCH and SIRT1 expression in female flies at T1 and T2, whereas only at T2 in males. FOXO and p16 were up-regulated at T1 in females and at T2 in males. Eiger and DOME were reduced only in females at T1 and T2, respectively. The anti-inflammatory effect was also observed in BV- 2 cells were PTS significantly reduced the up-regulation of IL1 and iNOS induced by LPS. These data confirmed the the anti-inflammatory activity of pterostilbene and suggest that it is influenced by gender.