Higher Unsaturation and Peroxidizability Indices in Caloric Restricted Drosophila melanogaster than in Control

The biochemical processes involved in ageing are poorly understood. One of the general approaches to understanding the mechanism of ageing is to study the effect of experimental manipulations on life-span and the properties that are affected by them. Some of these experimental manipulations are caloric restriction and genetic manipulations. Although these manipulations have been used many times and over the years to extend maximum life-span in laboratory animals, their mechanism of action is still unknown. In this report, Drosophila melanogaster were maintained on caloric restricted and normal diets for varying periods, mitochondrial phospholipid fatty acids were extracted and analyzed. Whilst 10 days and 20 days of caloric restriction did not cause any significant change in mitochondrial phospholipid fatty acid composition, 30 days of caloric restriction resulted in significant increase in the major polyunsaturated fatty acid (18:2(n-6)), which subsequently led to significant increase in total unsaturated index (UI) and peroxidizability index (PI) in caloric restricted flies compared to control. The results of the study therefore, show that food restriction does not lower the rate of ageing by decreasing the level of unsaturation of mitochondrial phospholipid fatty acids. Journal of the Ghana Science Association Vol. 10 (2) 2008: pp. 62-6