Fructose and glucose differentially affect aging and carbonyl/oxidative stress parameters in Saccharomyces cerevisiae cells.

Fructose is commonly used as an industrial sweetener and has been excessively consumed in human diets in the last decades. High fructose intake is causative in the development of metabolic disorders, but the mechanisms underlying fructose-induced disturbances are under debate. Fructose compared to glucose has been found to be a more potent initiator of the glycation reaction. Therefore, we supposed that glucose and fructose might have different vital effects. Here we compare the effects of glucose and fructose on yeast cell viability and markers of carbonyl/oxidative stress. Analysis of the parameters in cells growing on glucose and fructose clearly reveals that yeast growing on fructose has higher levels of carbonyl groups in proteins, α-dicarbonyl compounds and reactive oxygen species. This may explain the observation that fructose-supplemented growth as compared with growth on glucose resulted in more pronounced age-related decline in yeast reproductive ability and higher cell mortality. The results are discussed from the point of view that fructose rather than glucose is more extensively involved in glycation and ROS generation in vivo, yeast aging and development of carbonyl/oxidative stress. It should be noted that carbohydrate restriction used in this study does not reveal a significant difference between markers of aging and carbonyl/oxidative stress in yeasts cultivated on glucose and fructose.