Curcumin and Sulforaphane Preserve Mobility in Aging Caenorhabditis elegans via Distinct yet Complementary Transcriptional Signatures
Curcumin and Sulforaphane Preserve Mobility in Aging Caenorhabditis elegans via Distinct yet Complementary Transcriptional Signatures
Vivek-Ananth, R.;Sellegounder, D.;Mohanraj, K.;Maitra, S.;Saunter, C.;Weinkove, D.;Verdin, E.;Phipps, S.;Price, N.
AbstractAging involves a progressive decline in bodily functions, underscoring the need for interventions that enhance healthspan. In this study, we screened nine natural products in Caenorhabditis elegans using whole-organism phenotyping to assess mobility endpoints, and subsequently focused on curcumin, sulforaphane, and their combination. In replicated follow-up experiments, all three interventions improved late-adult mobility after Day 2 of adulthood. Sulforaphane and the combination provided the strongest gains, whereas curcumin showed a distinct benefit profile, with more pronounced effects on time active measures than on speed-based metrics. To examine associated molecular changes, we performed transcriptomic profiling on Day 3 adults. Curcumin was associated with lipid and sphingolipid remodeling together with reduced expression of several innate immune effectors, whereas sulforaphane induced glutathione-linked detoxification signatures involving multiple gst genes. The combination retained major features of both single-compound responses while adding combination-specific changes that broadened detoxification-associated signatures and extended repression of lectin-and lysozyme-associated genes. Transcription factor activity inference further supported SKN-1-linked detoxification responses under sulforaphane and the combination. Overall, these results suggest that curcumin and sulforaphane engage distinct yet partially convergent maintenance-related programs, and that their combination broadens the underlying molecular response without producing additive mobility gains. These findings motivate further testing of natural product combinations in healthspan-related contexts.