Survival Rate and Lifespan in Drosophila melanogaster Feeding with White Tea

Abstract

White tea is a special tea made from the bud and young leaves of some varieties of Camellia sinensis L. Kuntze plant. In this study, it was aimed to determine the effects of white tea on larval mortality in Drosophila melanogaster and the lifespan. The effect of white tea on the lifespan was studied separately in female and male populations of D. melanogaster. An average of 100 individuals for each group was collected from non-mated male and female flies at the same age (1-3 days). Then, these individuals were fed for 2 hours in culture tubes containing white tea at different concentrations (0.5; 1.0; 1.5 and 2.0 mL/100mL medium) and water extracts as the control group. As a result of our study, no decrease was observed in the larval mortality rates at any concentration we applied. This result has been interpreted as that white tea does not have toxic effects in the experimental groups. In the results obtained from the second phase of the study, statistically, significant increases were observed in the lifespan parallel to the increase in concentration. This result was interpreted to have been related to the antioxidant content in white tea.