Ginsenoside Re Regulates the Insulin/Insulin-like Growth Factor-1 Signaling Pathway and Mediates Lipid Metabolism to Achieve Anti-Aging Effects in Caenorhabditis elegans

The increasing demographic aging of society is a great challenge to the healthcare sector and raises the socio-economic burden. Therefore, elucidating the mechanisms of aging and developing safe effective anti-aging products to prolong people's healthy lifespan are paramount nowadays. Panax ginseng has been highly regarded since ancient times for its ability to enhance health and prolong life. However, its main active substances of anti-aging and their mechanisms are not fully understood. In this research, Caenorhabditis elegans was used as a model organism to explore and confirm the key active substances from Panax ginseng and the mechanisms that exert anti-aging effects. Various ginsenoside compounds were evaluated based on longevity, anti-stress, physiological function, etc. Ginsenoside Re, which has powerful anti-aging activity, was screened. In the follow-up trials, transcriptomics and RT-qPCR techniques were used to investigate the mechanism of Re in exerting its anti-aging properties. Differential genes were enriched in the Insulin/Insulin-like Growth Factor-1 Signaling (IIS) pathway, the neuropeptide signaling pathway, and lipid metabolism. A significant increase in the expression levels of daf-16, sgk-1, skn-1, hsf-1, hsp-16.2, sod-3, gst-4, fil-2, lips-11, cyp-35A4, and aex-2 genes, and a significant decrease in the expression levels of daf-2, age-1, and akt-2 genes were verified. These suggest that ginsenoside Re exerts its life-extending influence by regulating lipid metabolism and the IIS pathway.