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Evaluation of Carotenoids Protection Against Oxidative Stress in the Animal Model Caenorhabditis elegans

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Plant and Food Carotenoids

Part of the book series: Methods in Molecular Biology ((MIMB,volume 2083))

Abstract

The nematode Caenorhabditis elegans is a versatile and powerful model organism for animal experimental research and, despite being an invertebrate, displays remarkably similar molecular bases and conserved cellular pathways to those of humans. Oxidative stress is an etiological factor that influences numerous diseases, degenerative processes and aging. C. elegans has revealed as an opportune and feasible organism to investigate the antioxidant effects of different bioactives or complex food matrices, and a number of protocols have been developed by using different oxidative stressors. Carotenoids are recognized as quenchers and scavengers of reactive oxygen species, and many of their related health benefits attributed in the diet are tightly linked to their antioxidant properties. In this chapter, we report a simple and rapid assay to evaluate the protection capacity of pure carotenoids or complex carotenoid extracts against oxidative stress in the model system C. elegans. The protocol describes a representative feeding experiment by adding carotenoids to the nematode growth medium and after an incubation period, the C. elegans populations fed with carotenoids are exposed to an acute oxidative stress by using H2O2 as oxidative agent. The protection against oxidative stress is evaluated as the survival rate of the nematodes fed with the carotenoid prior to receiving oxidative treatment compared with the survival rate of control nematode population. In order to confirm the carotenoid intake by the nematodes during the feeding experiment a bioassimilation experiment is also reported.

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Acknowledgments

Financial support by research grant AGL-2015-70218 (Ministerio Economía y Competitividad, Spain) is gratefully acknowledged. MJR and LZ are members of Eurocaroten (COST_Action CA15136) and CaRed (Spanish Carotenoid Network, BIO2015-71703-REDT and BIO2017-90877-REDT).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Cell Biology Laboratory, Food Biotechnology Department, Biópolis SL/Archer Daniels Midland, Paterna, Valencia, Spain

    Patricia Martorell, Silvia Llopis, Salvador Genovés & Daniel Ramón

  2. Food Technology Area, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Valencia, Burjassot, Valencia, Spain

    José Vicente Gil

  3. Food Biotechnology Department, Instituto de Agroquímica y Tecnología de Alimentos (IATA), Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), Paterna, Valencia, Spain

    José Vicente Gil, Lorenzo Zacarías & María Jesús Rodrigo

Authors
  1. Patricia Martorell
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  2. Silvia Llopis
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  3. José Vicente Gil
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  4. Salvador Genovés
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  5. Daniel Ramón
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  6. Lorenzo Zacarías
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  7. María Jesús Rodrigo
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to María Jesús Rodrigo .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. CSIC-IRTA-UAB-UB, Centre for Research in Agricultural Genomics (CRAG), Barcelona, Spain

    Manuel Rodríguez-Concepción

  2. Institute for Biology II, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany

    Ralf Welsch

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Martorell, P. et al. (2020). Evaluation of Carotenoids Protection Against Oxidative Stress in the Animal Model Caenorhabditis elegans. In: Rodríguez-Concepción, M., Welsch, R. (eds) Plant and Food Carotenoids. Methods in Molecular Biology, vol 2083. Humana, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-9952-1_29

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-9952-1_29

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  • Publisher Name: Humana, New York, NY

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4939-9951-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4939-9952-1

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