Background: Prolonged maintenance of proteome stability and functionality (proteostasis) is of emerging significance in aging retardation and healthspan.
Purpose: An enriched polyphenolic extract obtained from the hydrodistillation of rose petals was tested for its capacity to activate the proteostasis network modules, and thus modulate health- and/or lifespan at the cellular and whole organism level.
Methods: The aqueous extract that remained after the hydrodistillation of Rosa damascena petals, was processed with a polystyrene-FPX66 adsorption resin and sequentially fractionated by FCPC. NMR and UHPLC-HRMS analyses revealed the presence of 28 metabolites, mainly glycosides of kaempferol and quercetin.
Results: The extract showed high in vitro antioxidant activity and was not toxic in normal human skin fibroblasts, while it promoted the upregulation of NRF2-induced antioxidant genes and main proteostatic modules. Consistently, supplementation of this extract in Drosophila flies' culture medium induced a cncC/NRF2-mediated upregulation of antioxidant and proteostatic modules. Prolonged administration of the extract in flies' culture medium was not toxic and did not affect food intake rate or fecundity; also, it delayed the age-related decline of stress tolerance and locomotion performance (neuromuscular functionality) and dose-dependently extended flies' lifespan.
Conclusion: Our findings indicate that the enriched polyphenolic extract obtained from the residue of R. damascena hydrodistillation activates cytoprotective cellular modules that, likely, contribute to its potential anti-aging properties.
Keywords: Aging; Drosophila; NMR; Rosa damascena; UHPLC-HRMS; proteostasis network.
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