Effects of regular exercise on sleep and activity status in aging and Clk RNAi Drosophila melanogaster

ABSTRACT

The intact expression of core clock genes is essential for organism homeostatic regulation and Clock (Clk) as one of drivers in core circadian gene plays a crucial role to maintain circadian rhythm. In this study, we use GAL4/UAS system to downregulate the expression of Clk specifically in pigment-dispersing factor, a neuropeptide rhythmically released from small ventral lateral neurons (sLNvs) in the brain and combined with regular exercise. Then, we collected the activities using Drosophila activity monitor system and analyzed the sleep and activity status. The results showed that activity peaks in the morning and evening and total activities during the day and night of 6-week-old flies were significantly lower than those of 3-week-old flies in gene normal expression non-exercise group, and ineffective sleep increased during the day. The 3-week Clk RNAi Drosophila showed similar characteristics with 6-week normal flies in the weakened bimodal pattern activities; while they have worse sleep quality during the day, the 6-week Clk RNAi flies exhibited a reduced nighttime sleep volume and prolonged sleep latency. Although the regular exercise could not enhance the sleep quality of Clk RNAi Drosophila, it can significantly improve daytime sleep intensity by ameliorating age-related sleep inefficiency in normal group.

KEYWORDS:

• Clk
• regular exercise
• aging
• sleep
• activity
• Drosophila

Acknowledgments

We wish to thank Xiushan Wu (The Center for Heart Development, College of Life Science, Hunan normal University) for supporting Drosophila of w¹¹¹⁸.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant 31671243 and 81600320.