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Research Paper|Volume 15, Issue 24|pp 14651—14665

The peptide Acein promotes dopamine secretion through clec-126 to extend the lifespan of elderly C. elegans

Jiaqi Wang1, Dong Wang1, Sarra Setrerrahmane3, Jean Martinez2, Han-Mei Xu1
  • 1Synthetic Peptide Drug Discovery and Evaluation Engineering Research Center, China Pharmaceutical University, Nanjing 211198, China
  • 2Institut des Biomolécules Max Mousseron (IBMM), Université de Montpellier, CNRS, ENSCM, Pôle Chimie Balard Recherche, Montpellier cedex 5 34293, France
  • 3Nanjing ANJI Biotechnology Co., Ltd., Nanjing 210033, China
Received: May 8, 2023Accepted: September 8, 2023Published: December 27, 2023
https://doi.org/10.18632/aging.205150

Copyright: © 2023 Wang et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Abstract

Dopamine plays a crucial role in regulating brain activity and movement and modulating human behavior, cognition and mood. Regulating dopamine signaling may improve cognitive abilities and physical functions during aging. Acein, a nonapeptide of sequence H-Pro-Pro-Thr-Thr-Thr-Lys-Phe-Ala-Ala-OH is able to stimulate dopamine secretion in the brain. By using genetic editing and lifespan investigation in C. elegans, we showed that the lack of the C-type lectin domain-containing protein clec-126 significantly suppressed the aging phenotype and prolonged lifespan, while overexpression of clec-126 promoted aging-related phenotypes and accelerated the aging process. We examined the aging phenotype of C. elegans and showed that Acein could induce a decrease in clec-126 expression, prolonging the lifespan of aged C. elegans. The mechanism proceeds through the Acein-induced stimulation of dopamine secretion that ameliorates motor function decline and extends the healthy lifespan of aged C. elegans. In addition, we also observed an increase in brood number. Our study has shown that Acein regulates dopamine secretion and has good antiaging activity by decreasing clec-126 expression.