Antioxidative activity of (3R,3R’) and (3S,3S’) astaxanthin in Caenorhabditis elegans

Abstract

As a potent antioxidant in human diet, astaxanthin (AST) may play important roles in alleviating oxidative stress‐driven adverse physiological effects. In this study, we determined the anti‐oxidative and anti‐aging effects of different stereoisomers of AST in Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans). Three stereoisomers of AST investigated herein included 3S,3′S (S) AST, 3R,3′R (R) AST and a mixture (S: meso: R=1:2:1) (M) AST. Under normal culture environment, treatment with S, R and M AST extended median lifespan of C. elegans by 27.61%, 25.25% and 22.69%, respectively. Under the peroxidation conditions, all three types of AST significantly enhanced survival rate of C. elegans. The accumulation levels of ROS were reduced by 40.12%, 30.05% and 22.04% by S, R and M AST, respectively (P<0.05). Compared with R and M AST, S significantly enhanced the expression levels of SOD‐3. The results of RNA‐Seq demonstrated that AST protected C. elegans from oxidative damage potentially by modulating the insulin/insulin‐(IIS) pathway and the oxidordeuctase system. It is noteworthy that the different stereoisomers of AST showed different effects on the expression levels of various genes related with oxidative stress. This study provided important information on the in vivo antioxidative effects of AST stereoisomers.Support or Funding InformationNational Natural Science Foundation of China (31401481)