Apigenin Improves Healthspan and Protects Against Alzheimer's Disease-Associated Proteotoxicity in C. elegans
- 1Colorado State University
Abstract
Apigenin is an abundant, bioactive phytochemical with reported therapeutic potential and neuroprotective effects in a variety of age-related disease models. However, the extent to which apigenin may promote healthspan and protect against neurodegeneration-associated proteotoxicity has not been thoroughly investigated, and the biological processes/mechanisms that underlie its protective effects remain unclear. To determine if apigenin increases healthspan, we performed lifespan assays in conjunction with measures of aging-relevant physiological function in wild-type C. elegans. We found that chronic exposure to apigenin extended median lifespan and improved multiple readouts of healthspan, including pharyngeal pumping, locomotor activity, and age-related macromolecular damage accumulation. Additional analyses of transgenic reporter strains and transcriptomic profiling (RNA-seq) indicated that apigenin primarily modulated redox-sensitive stress signaling and pathways associated with cellular homeostasis in aging animals. Finally, in transgenic C. elegans strains expressing the pathological Alzheimer's disease-associated proteins amyloid-beta or tau, we found that apigenin had similar beneficial effects on lifespan, healthspan, and proteotoxicity-associated functional impairments. Together, our results support apigenin as a potential healthspan-promoting intervention that acts in part through reductions in oxidative stress-associated signaling, with beneficial effects that extend to models of Alzheimer's disease-associated proteotoxicity.
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BibTeX
@misc{grant2026apigenin,
title = {{Apigenin Improves Healthspan and Protects Against Alzheimer's Disease-Associated Proteotoxicity in C. elegans}},
author = {R. A. Grant and L. H. E. Park and D. Wahl and T. J. LaRocca},
howpublished = {bioRxiv},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.64898/2026.09.23.753917},
url = {https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.23.753917v1},
note = {CC BY-NC-ND},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Apigenin Improves Healthspan and Protects Against Alzheimer's Disease-Associated Proteotoxicity in C. elegans
AU - R. A. Grant
AU - L. H. E. Park
AU - D. Wahl
AU - T. J. LaRocca
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/23
PB - bioRxiv
DO - 10.64898/2026.09.23.753917
UR - https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.23.753917v1
AB - Apigenin is an abundant, bioactive phytochemical with reported therapeutic potential and neuroprotective effects in a variety of age-related disease models. However, the extent to which apigenin may promote healthspan and protect against neurodegeneration-associated proteotoxicity has not been thoroughly investigated, and the biological processes/mechanisms that underlie its protective effects remain unclear. To determine if apigenin increases healthspan, we performed lifespan assays in conjunction with measures of aging-relevant physiological function in wild-type C. elegans. We found that chronic exposure to apigenin extended median lifespan and improved multiple readouts of healthspan, including pharyngeal pumping, locomotor activity, and age-related macromolecular damage accumulation. Additional analyses of transgenic reporter strains and transcriptomic profiling (RNA-seq) indicated that apigenin primarily modulated redox-sensitive stress signaling and pathways associated with cellular homeostasis in aging animals. Finally, in transgenic C. elegans strains expressing the pathological Alzheimer's disease-associated proteins amyloid-beta or tau, we found that apigenin had similar beneficial effects on lifespan, healthspan, and proteotoxicity-associated functional impairments. Together, our results support apigenin as a potential healthspan-promoting intervention that acts in part through reductions in oxidative stress-associated signaling, with beneficial effects that extend to models of Alzheimer's disease-associated proteotoxicity.
ER -