Effect of sunflower oil nanoemulsions on the growth and lifespan extension of the Caenorhabditis elegans

Abstract

Caenorhabditis elegans has been used as a central model system for broad-spectrum research studies across diverse modern biological domains. A study was conducted to evaluate the potential of sunflower oil-based nanoemulsions for lifespan enhancement in stressed C. elegans worms, that had been fed on nematode growth media (NGM) seeded with two strains of pathogenic bacteria (Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium and Staphylococcus aureus). Nanoemulsions were fabricated using HI-CAP® 100 modified food starch, and their stability was tested under different processing conditions (temperature, pH, ionic strength) over a period of 5 months. Lifespan assay results demonstrated that sunflower-oil-based nanoemulsions with droplet size 170.2±9.3 nm, significantly facilitated the growth of C. elegans under stress conditions and increased the lifespan of the worms from the previously recorded 11 days to 26 days in the current research study.