1. Resveratrol and Decreased Fat Deposition in C. elegans
Alexandra Golway- Period 3
Manhasset Science Research

2. Need Obesity Trends* Among U.S. Adults 1990, 1998, 2007 1998 1990 2007
(*BMI 30, or about 30 lbs. overweight for 5’4” person)
1998
1990
2007
No Data <10% %–14% %–19% %–24% %–29% ≥30%
Figure 1: Obesity trends among U.S. adults
Source: Center for Disease Control & Prevention [ 5]

3. Knowledge Base
Figure 2: Chemical structure of Nile Red (A) & Sudan Black (B) staining. Nile Red staining in wild-type and mutant C. elegans (C-E). Sudan Black staining in wild-type (F) & mutant (G) organisms.
Source: (Ashrafi, 2007) [

4. Resveratrol Chemical found in grapes; red wine
Popular dietary supplement- advertised as anti-aging substance
May explain “French paradox”
Figure 3: chemical structure of resveratrol (C14H12O3) [

5. Literature Review
Figure 4: RNAi was used to silence certain genes to determine which ones regulated fat in C. elegans (Ashrafi, et al, 2003) [chart made by author using materials from article]

6. Literature Review
C. elegans in dauer need AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) to survive
Dauer- larval “hibernation” stage in which metabolic rate is slowed; fat deposits increase to sustain organism
AMPK- fat regulatory enzyme
aak2 mutant dauers lack AMPK destroy fat
(Roy, et al, 2009)
Figure 5: The enzyme AMPK is necessary for C. elegans in dauer to survive and regulate fat deposition (Roy, et al, 2009) [chart created by author]

7. Literature Review
Resveratrol improves health and survival of mice on a high-calorie diet
(Baur, et al, 2006)
Figure 6: Resveratrol caused many positive changes in the overall health of mice similar to the effects of caloric restriction
(Baur, et al, 2006) [chart made by author adapted from article]

8. Literature Review
Figure 7: In human preadipocytes (fat cell precursors), resveratrol in extremely high doses (3-5 g) caused positive changes in the cells. (Fischer-Posovsky, et al, 2008) [chart made by author]

9. Purpose/Hypothesis
Purpose: to observe the effects of resveratrol on fat deposition in C. elegans and compare it to caloric restriction
Null hypothesis: Resveratrol will cause no change in fat deposition in C. elegans
Alternate hypothesis: Resveratrol will cause a decrease in fat deposition and mimic the effects of caloric restriction

10. Methodology

11. Protocols C. elegans placed in petri dishes
Nematode Growth Medium (NGM) used
E. coli is food source
Resveratrol and Sudan Black will be ingested by organisms
Picture by Victoria Wei

12. Budget Total Price: $205.20 Vendor Order # Quantity Description
Unit Price
Total Price
Caenorhabditis Genetic Center
TJ3014 10
Wild-type C. elegans N2
$7.00
$70.00
Sigma-Aldrich
R mg 1
Resveratrol- 100 mg
$81.50
Carolina Biological 2009 NP 2
Sudan III Stain
$26.85
$53.70
Total Price: $205.20

13. Do-ability Resveratrol studies have been done in previous years
C. elegans is a useful model organism that is easily obtained
Sudan Black staining and fluorescent microscope examination are possible

14. Bibliography
Ashrafi, K. Obesity and the regulation of fat metabolism (March 9, 2007), , ed. The Research Community, WormBook, doi/ /wormbook , <
Ashrafi, Kaveh, Francesca Y. Chang, Jennifer L Watts, Andrew G. Fraser, Ravi S. Kamath, Julie Ahringer, and Gary Ruvkin. “Genome-wide RNAi analysis of Caenorhabditis elegans fat regulatory genes.” Nature (2003):
Baur, Joseph A., Kevin J. Pearson, Nathan L. Price, Hamish A. Jamieson, Charles Lerin, Avash Kalra, Vinayakumar V. Prabhu, Joanne Sl Allard, Guillermo Lopez-Lluch, Kaitlyn Lewis, Paul J. Pistell, Suresh Poosala, Kevin G. Becker, Olivier Boss, Dana Gwinn, Mingyi Want, Sharan Ramaswamy, Kenneth W. Fishbein, Richard G. Spencer, Edward G. Lakatta, David Le Couteur, Reuben J. Shaw, Placido Navas, Pere Puigserver, Donald K. Ingram, Rafael de Cabo & David A. Sinclair. “Resveratrol improves health and survival of mice on a high-calorie diet.” Nature (2009) Vol. 444.
Dasgupta, Biplab and Jeffrey Milbrandt. “Resveratrol stimulates AMP kinase activity in neurons.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 2007, April 24: 104(17):
The Endocrine Society. "Red Wine's Resveratrol May Help Battle Obesity." ScienceDaily 17 June June 2009 < /releases/2008/06/ htm>.
Roy, Richard and Patrick Narbonne. “Caenorhabditis elegans dauers need LKB1/AMPK to ration lipid reserves and ensure long-term survival.” Nature (2009) Vol. 457.
Stiernagle, Theresa. “Maintenance of C. elegans.” February 11, 2006), , ed. The Research Community, WormBook, doi/ /wormbook , <