The Effect of Ayurveda Antioxidants on Lifespan and Motor Skills in the Huntington's model of Drosophila melanogaster

Despite scientists researching neurodegenerative diseases for four decades, there has not been much progress in treatment options. One prominent disease is Huntington’s disease, a disorder that causes declining motor functions and shortened lifespans. The purpose of this experiment was to test three Ayurveda antioxidants, which were turmeric, ashwagandha, and pomegranate juice, on different groups of Drosophila melanogaster, modeling Huntington’s disease (HD), to see how they affected the flies’ lifespans and motor skills. It was hypothesized that if three groups of antioxidant-exposed flies were compared to the control group, then turmeric would cause the biggest difference in both the lifespan and climbing skills because it contains a chemical called curcumin, which has been beneficial against neurodegenerative disorders. The fruit flies were placed into three groups, exposed to an antioxidant, and the dead flies were recorded every two days. Then, a climbing assay was performed by placing flies from each group at the bottom of a graduated cylinder and recording the number of flies that get past the 8cm mark in 10 seconds. The results of the chi-square test for the lifespan assay suggest that there are no significant differences between the distribution of dead flies for the experimental groups and the control group Χ^2(2, N=20)=1.1, p>0.05, but for the climbing assay, there was a significant difference between the groups Χ^2(2, N=10)=64.8, p<0.05. Therefore, it was concluded that while the antioxidants did not affect the lifespan of the flies, they did affect the motor functions.