Curcumin and Sulforaphane Preserve Mobility in Aging Caenorhabditis elegans via Distinct yet Complementary Transcriptional Signatures

Abstract

Aging involves a progressive decline in bodily functions, underscoring the need for interventions that enhance healthspan. In this study, we screened nine natural products in Caenorhabditis elegans using whole-organism phenotyping to assess mobility endpoints, and subsequently focused on curcumin, sulforaphane, and their combination. In replicated follow-up experiments, all three interventions improved late-adult mobility after Day 2 of adulthood. Sulforaphane and the combination provided the strongest gains, whereas curcumin showed a distinct benefit profile, with more pronounced effects on time active measures than on speed-based metrics. To examine associated molecular changes, we performed transcriptomic profiling on Day 3 adults. Curcumin was associated with lipid and sphingolipid remodeling together with reduced expression of several innate immune effectors, whereas sulforaphane induced glutathione-linked detoxification signatures involving multiple gst genes. The combination retained major features of both single-compound responses while adding combination-specific changes that broadened detoxification-associated signatures and extended repression of lectin-and lysozyme-associated genes. Transcription factor activity inference further supported SKN-1-linked detoxification responses under sulforaphane and the combination. Overall, these results suggest that curcumin and sulforaphane engage distinct yet partially convergent maintenance-related programs, and that their combination broadens the underlying molecular response without producing additive mobility gains. These findings motivate further testing of natural product combinations in healthspan-related contexts.