Drugs, nutrients, and phytoactive principles improving the health span of rodent models of human age-related diseases.

Rodents are often the species of choice to examine the effect of drugs on survival and on the progression of specific diseased tissues. This statement is also true for research laboratories working in the field of nutrition and aging. In addition to diets that can reduce the life expectancy of rodents, such as diabetogenic or high-fat diets, genetically modified rodents exhibiting different accelerated age-associated diseases also provide important biologic tools to decipher the impact of drugs, nutrients, or phytoactive compounds on their health and life span. This review covers some of the chemicals believed to decelerate the appearance of age-related diseases in different rodent models. Such chemicals include antioxidants, anti-inflammatory molecules, modulators of metabolic sensors, calorie restriction mimetics, and vegetal polyphenolic compounds that affect mitochondrial functions, cellular proliferation or differentiation as well as cell functionality.