Similar post-stress metabolic trajectories in young and old flies

Homeostenosis (i.e. decline in stress resistance and resilience with age) is a fundamental notion of the biogerontology and physiology of aging. Stressful situations typically challenge metabolic homeostasis and the capacity to recover from a stress-induced metabolic disorder might be particularly compromised in senescent individuals. In the present work, we report the effects of aging on low temperature stress tolerance and metabolic profiles in Drosophila melanogaster females of different ages. Adult flies aged 4, 16, 30 and 44 days were subjected to acute and chronic cold stress, and data confirmed a strong decline in cold tolerance and resilience of old flies compared to young counterparts. Using quantitative target GC-MS analysis, we found distinct metabolic phenotypes between young (4 day-old) and old (44 day-old) flies, with glycolytic pathways being differentially affected between the two age groups. We also compared the robustness of metabolic homeostasis in young vs. old flies when exposed to cold stress using time-series metabolic analysis. In both age groups, we found evidence of strong alteration of metabolic profiles when flies were exposed to low temperature stress. Interestingly, the temporal metabolic trajectories during the recovery period were similar in young and old flies, despite strong differences in thermotolerance. In conclusion, metabolic signatures markedly changed with age and homeostenosis was observed in the phenotypic response to cold stress. However, these changes did not reflect in different temporal homeostatic response at metabolic level.