Abstract: In order to validate the anti-aging effect of Bama longevity characteristic dietary patterns, 3-month-old young mice and 15-month-old naturally aging mice were used in this study. According to our previous study results, the characteristic nutrients in the Bama longevity diet (dietary fiber, vitamin A, vitamin C, vitamin E, β-carotene, soybean isoflavone, lycopene, iron, manganese, cobalt and selenium) were selected as regulatory factors to develop two optimized characteristic dietary patterns (I and II) of Bama longevity by adding probiotics. Mice were fed on either diet for 8 weeks. Morris water maze test was used to evaluate the learning and memory capacity of mice, and the activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) and the content of malondialdehyde (MDA) in brain tissue were determined. Finally, the morphological characteristics of brain hippocampal tissues were observed by hematoxylin-eosin (HE) staining. The results showed that the escape latency of aging mice with the two dietary patterns decreased significantly when compared with the aging control mice (P < 0.05), and that the residence time in the target quadrant of aging male mice with optimized dietary pattern II significantly increased (P < 0.05). Compared with the young control group, the number of times crossing the platform of young female mice with optimized dietary pattern I was increased significantly (P < 0.05), and the travel distance in the target quadrant of young male mice with either dietary pattern significantly increased (P < 0.05). Compared with the control group, the activities of SOD and GSH-Px in brain tissue were significantly increased in young mice with optimized dietary pattern I and aging mice with the two optimized dietary patterns (P < 0.05), and the content of MDA in the latter two groups decreased significantly (P < 0.05). Compared with the aging control group, the degeneration, necrosis and apoptosis of hippocampal neurons in aging mice were effectively alleviated by the two dietary patterns. The results showed that the two optimized longevity dietary patterns could effectively improve the learning and memory capacity and exert an anti-aging effect in young and naturally aging mice, especially in the latter group, with pattern I being more effective. Therefore, the two dietary patterns can guide health management for longevity and provide a reference for further studies.

Key words: natural aging; dietary patterns; learning and cognition; oxidative stress; brain pathology