Astragaloside IV Extends Lifespan of by Improving Age-Related Functional Declines and Triggering Antioxidant Responses.

Astragaloside IV (AS-IV) is a representative component of astragaloside saponins in dried roots of Astragali Radix. Astragaloside possesses a broad spectrum of pharmacological activities, including antibacterial, anti-fibrosis, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and neuroprotective effects. However, the role of AS-IV in antiaging remains unclear. In this article, we studied the function of AS-IV in antiaging by using the () model. We showed that AS-IV can prolong the lifespan of in a natural aging model, a paraquat injury model, and a heat stress model and improve the movement capacity of nematodes. H-NMR data indicate an improvement of glutamate content and a decrease in glucose in the AS-IV treatment group compared with the control. Further investigation revealed that AS-IV can induce the mRNA expression of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase (CAT) genes and increase the activities of SOD and CAT in the nematode. Interestingly, AS-IV could not extend the lifespan of , , , , , , , , and mutants. These data indicate that AS-IV prevents aging via mainly improving age-related functional declines, the antioxidant capacity of nematodes and partially modulating the insulin/insulin growth factor 1 signaling pathway activity. Our results provide new insights into how AS-IV prevents and treats aging.