Manganese toxicity in Drosophila melanogaster: extension of the life span by resveratrol

The effect of resveratrol was studied on the life span and motor activity of Drosophila melanogaster treated with manganese (Mn). Two days after emerging from the pupa, male wild type D. melanogaster were fed for 13 days with corn media containing 15 mM Mn. Thereafter, Drosophila were divided into six groups of 300 flies each: (1) the flies remained treated with Mn; (2) began treatment with 0.43mM resveratrol (Mn-resveratrol group); (3) received no additional treatment (Mn-no treatment group); (4) simultaneously fed with Mn and resveratrol (Mn+resveratrol group). In addition, a control (5) with no treatment and another group (6) fed only with resveratrol after emerging from the pupa were included. All Mn-treated flies (group 1) were dead on the 25th day. The life span in the resveratrol group was 91 perpendicular to 0.33 days (mean perpendicular to S.E.M.) and in Mn-resveratrol flies was 83 +/- 2 days. These two values were significantly higher than those detected in the control (5) and Mn-no treatment (group 3) flies whose life span were 68 perpendicular to 0.33 and 67 perpendicular to 2.31 days, respectively. The Mn+resveratrol-fed flies had a markedly higher life span (31 +/- 1.53 days) than Mn-fed flies (23 +/- 0.88 days). In the flies that received Mn (Mn and Mn+resveratrol groups), the motor activity decreased significantly with respect to control (groups 5) and the Mn-resveratrol and resveratrol groups. In conclusion, resveratrol increased significantly the life span of Mn-treated D. melanogaster.