Ameliorative effect of antioxidants present in peanut skin extract on the locomotor and feeding behavioral attributes of selected Drosophila mutants, up1 and txKO

Abstract Background Plants play a key role in the food and pharmaceutical industries as a source of natural products, which are considered alternative medicines for treating many diseases. Although plants are rich sources of phenolic, flavonoids, and other secondary metabolites, the functional roles of these bioactive compounds can be studied by supplementing the diet of Drosophila spp. and subsequently evaluating the behavioral outcomes. This study aimed to conduct a comparative analysis of the behavioral traits and explore the foraging potential of Drosophila mutants, namely Upheld 1 (up 1 ) and Taxi KO (tx ko ), along with positive and negative control groups, during the third instar larval stage when supplemented with peanut skin extracts extracted from solvents, namely, ethyl acetate (EAE), acetone (AE), and methanol (ME). Methods Peanut skin was defatted and extracted with solvents (EAE, AE & ME) using the Soxhlet extraction method. The antioxidant capacity of each extract was evaluated using the 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl(DPPH) radical scavenging assay, and the total phenolic and flavonoid contents of PSE were also assessed. FT-IR (Fourier Transform Infrared) spectroscopy and GC–MS (Gas Chromatography–Mass Spectrometry) analyses were performed to identify the major functional groups as well as the volatile and derived components respectively. The behavioral attributes of third-instar larvae mutants and controls (positive and negative groups) along with wild-type strains ( Canton-S and w 1118 ) were assessed through locomotion and feeding assays (n = 20/group). Results The AE showed the highest antioxidant activity, with greater phenolic and flavonoid contents. The DPPH assay at a concentration of 200 µg/mL was found to have optimal free-radical scavenging activity. Among the extracts, PSE from AE exhibited the strongest free-radical scavenging effect, followed by the EAE and the ME, when compared with standard Vitamin C. The investigations further indicated that PSE positively influenced the foraging behavior of Drosophila spp., probably mitigating the functional deficits caused by mutations. Notably, PSE supplementation resulted in statistically significant ( P < 0.05 ) improvements in locomotor (distance crawled) and feeding (peristalsis cycles) behaviors, when compared with the control group. Conclusions The PSE-fed larvae exhibited altered behavioral attributes in third-instar larvae, due to modifications in the neuronal system, indicating that PSE influences neurobehavioral patterns. Further advanced studies are required to gain deeper insights into the cognitive attributes.