Fig. 8: Intermittent PCC1 administration extends both healthspan and lifespan of aged mice.
From: The flavonoid procyanidin C1 has senotherapeutic activity and increases lifespan in mice
a, Schematic design for physical examination of 20-month-old C57BL/6J male mice treated with PCC1 once every 2 weeks (biweekly) for 4 months. b, Representative images of SA-β-Gal staining of kidneys from young and aged mice treated with vehicle or PCC1. Scale bar, 200 μm. c, Quantification of SA-β-Gal staining as described in b. Data represent mean ± s.d. d–h, Quantification of maximal walking speed (relative to baseline) (d), hanging endurance (e), grip strength (f), treadmill endurance (g) and daily activity (h) of 20-month-old C57BL/6J male mice after the 4-month treatment. i, Quantification of the time needed to cross the balance beam. Data points before and after treatment of each animal are connected to allow direct comparison of treatment effects. j, Quantitative transcript profiling of SASP expression in lung tissues collected from 6-month-old untreated (6M), 24-month-old vehicle-treated (24M-vehicle) and 24-month-old PCC1-treated mice (24M-PCC1). Data are shown as mean ± s.d. and were derived from three biological replicates (n = 3 independent assays). k, Schematic design for lifespan analyses of mice (both sexes) at 24–27 months of age. l,m, Post-treatment survival (l) and whole-life survival (m) curves of C57BL/6J animals treated biweekly with PCC1 (n = 91; 48 males, 43 females) or vehicle (n = 80; 42 males, 38 females) starting at 24–27 months of age. n, Maximal walking speed and hanging endurance averaged over the last 2 months of life (n = 10 mice per group) and lifespan for the longest-living mice (top 20) in both groups. o, Disease burden and tumour burden at death. For both sexes, n = 60 mice per arm. For males, n = 31 for PCC1 and n = 33 for vehicle. For females, n = 29 for PCC1 and n = 27 for vehicle. For c–h,j, n = 3 biologically independent assays. Data are displayed as box-and-whisker plots, in which a box extends from the 25th to the 75th percentile with the median shown as a line in the middle, and whiskers indicate smallest and largest values (d–h,n) or as mean ± s.d. (o). Unpaired two-tailed t-tests (c–j,n,o) and Cox proportional-hazard regression models (l,m) were used to determine statistical significance.
