Effects of late-onset dietary intake of salidroside on insulin/insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) signaling pathway of the annual fish Nothobranchius guentheri

•SDS administration slows down the decrease of the expression of Sirt1 and Foxo3a, and retards the increase in the expression of p-PI3K and p-Akt in muscles of aging N. guentheri.•SDS administration accelerates the reduction of the expression of Igf-1 and Igf-1R in muscles of the aging N. guentheri.•SDS administration leads to the decrease of accumulation of SA-β-Gal and DNA damage of aging N. guentheri.•SDS administration affects insulin/insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) signaling pathway of the annual fish N. guentheri. Salidroside (SDS) is the main active ingredient of Rhodiola which has many biological functions including anti-fatigue, anti-tumor, and immune regulation activities. Our last paper demonstrated that SDS prolonged longevity of the annual fish Nothobranchius guentheri, a promising vertebrate model for anti-aging research. However, little is known about its effect on insulin/insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) signaling pathway (IIS pathway). In this study, we show that SDS is able to decrease accumulation of SA-β-Gal. We also show that SDS administraton could reduce the expression levels of Igf-1 and Igf-1R, downregulate the expressions of p-PI3K and p-Akt and upregulate the expression levels of Sirt1 and Foxo3a, both of which are the downstream regulators of the IIS pathway. We also find that SDS could alleviate DNA damage, which could result in increased expression of transcription factor Foxo3a. Collectively, these data indicate that SDS may take part in the IIS pathway.