Abstract
Previous studies have shown that exposing flies to hypergravity (3 or 5g) for two weeks at young age slightly increases longevity of male flies and survival time at 37 °C of both sexes, and delays an age-linked behavioral change. The present experiments tested whether hypergravity could also protect flies from a non-lethal 37 °C heat shock applied at young, middle or old age (2, 4 or 6weeks of age). Various durations of exposure at 37 °C had similar deleterious effects on climbing activity, spontaneous locomotor activity and learning in flies that lived or not in hypergravity at young age. Therefore, hypergravity does not protect the behavior of flies from a deleterious non-lethal heat shock. Hypergravity increased longevity of virgin males and decreased that of mated ones; it also increased longevity of virgins at 25 °C, the usual rearing temperature, but not at 30 °C. Thus, the positive effect of hypergravity on longevity is observed only if flies are not subjected to living conditions decreasing longevity, like mating and high temperature. Finally, 4 weeks-old males that lived in hypergravity at young age lived slightly longer (+ 15%) after a non-lethal heat shock (60 or 90 min at 37 °C) than flies that always lived at 1 g, but this positive effect of hypergravity was not observed in females or in older males. Therefore, all these results show that hypergravity exposure can help male middle-aged flies recovering from a heat shock, but does not protect them from behavioral impairments linked to this shock: a mild stress occurring at young age can partially protect from a moderate stress at middle age.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
References
B Bartling I Friedrich RE Silber A Simm (2003) ArticleTitleIschemic preconditioning is not cardioprotective in senescent human myocardium Ann Thorac Surg 76 105–111
J Belmin (2003) ArticleTitleLes conséquences de la vague de chaleur d’août 2003 sur la mortalité des personnes âgées. Un premier bilan (The consequences of the heat wave in August 2003 on the mortality of the elderly in France. The first overview). Presse Med 32 1591–1594
E Cook-Wiens MS Grotewiel (2002) ArticleTitleDissociation between functional senescence and oxidative stress resistance in Drosophila Exp Geront 37 1345–1355
JR Cypser TE Johnson (2002) ArticleTitleMultiple stressors in Caenorhabditis elegans induce stress hormesis and extended longevity J Gerontol Biol Sci 57A B109–B114
Desesquelles A and Richet-Mastain L (2004) Bilan démographique 2003: stabilité des naissances, augmentation des décès (Demographic assessment of 2003 in France: the number of births is stable but that of deaths increases). INSEE Première, issue 948 (downloadable at www.insee.fr)
MB Feany WW Bender (2000) ArticleTitleA Drosophila model of Parkinson’s disease Nature 404 394–398
MJ Hercus V Loeschcke SIS Rattan (2003) ArticleTitleLifespan extension of Drosophila melanogaster through hormesis by repeated mild heat stress Biogerontology 4 149–156
Y Honma M Tani K Yamamura M Takayama H Hasegawa (2003) ArticleTitlePreconditioning with heat shock further improved functional recovery in young adult but not in middle-aged rat hearts Exp Geront 38 299–306
E Le Bourg (2003) ArticleTitleDelaying aging: could the study of hormesis be more helpful than that of the genetic pathway used to survive starvation Biogerontology 4 319–324
E Le Bourg (2004) ArticleTitleEffects of aging on learned suppression of photopositive tendencies in Drosophila melanogaster Neurobiol Aging 25 1241–1252
E Le Bourg C Buechel (2002) ArticleTitleLearned suppression of photopositive tendencies in Drosophila melanogaster Anim Learn Behav 30 330–341
E Le Bourg D Fournier (2004) ArticleTitleIs lifespan extension accompanied by improved antioxidant defences? A study of superoxide dismutase and catalase in Drosophila melanogaster flies that lived in hypergravity at young age. Biogerontology 5 261–266
E Le Bourg N Minois (1997) ArticleTitleIncreased longevity and resistance to heat shock in Drosophila melanogaster flies exposed to hypergravity CR Acad Sci Paris 320 215–221
E Le Bourg N Minois (1999) ArticleTitleA mild stress, hypergravity exposure, postpones behavioral aging in Drosophila melanogaster Exp Geront 34 157–172
E Le Bourg N Minois P Bullens P Baret (2000) ArticleTitleA mild stress due to hypergravity exposure at young age increases longevity in Drosophila melanogaster males Biogerontology 1 145–155
E Le Bourg P Valenti P Lucchetta F Payre (2001) ArticleTitleEffects of mild heat shocks at young age on aging and longevity in Drosophila melanogaster Biogerontology 2 155–164
P Long Q Nguyen C Thurow TL Broderick (2002) ArticleTitleCalorie restriction restores the cardioprotective effect of preconditioning in the rat heart Mech Ageing Dev 123 1411–1413
N Minois (2000) ArticleTitleLongevity and aging: beneficial effects of exposure to mild stress Biogerontology 1 15–29
N Minois E Le Bourg (1999) ArticleTitleResistance to stress as a function of age in Drosophila melanogaster living in hypergravity Mech Ageing Dev 109 53–64
N Minois SIS Rattan (2003) Hormesis in aging and longevity SIS Rattan (Eds) Modulating Aging and Longevity Kluwer Academic Publishers Dordrecht 127–137
J Miquel PR Lundgren R Binnard (1972) ArticleTitleNegative geotaxis and mating behavior in control and gamma-irradiated Drosophila Droso Infor Serv 60 48
EA Nikitina EV Tokmatcheva EV Savateeva-Popova (2003) ArticleTitleHeat shock during the development of central structures of the Drosophila brain: memory formation in the l(1)ts403 mutant of Drosophila melanogaster Rus J Genet 39 25–31
R Pearl L Allen WBD Penniman (1926) ArticleTitleCulture media for Drosophila. II. A new synthetic medium and its influence on fertility at different densities of populations. Am Nat 60 357–366
GV Semenchenko AA Khazaeli JW Curtsinger AI Yashin (2004) ArticleTitleStress resistance declines with age: analysis of data from a survival experiment with Drosophila melanogaster Biogerontology 5 17–30
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Bourg, É.L., Toffin, É. & Massé, A. Male Drosophila melanogaster flies exposed to hypergravity at young age are protected against a non-lethal heat shock at middle age but not against behavioral impairments due to this shock. Biogerontology 5, 431–443 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10522-004-3200-9
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10522-004-3200-9