antioxidants

Yolk testosterone reduces oxidative damages during postnatal development

Enlace mardeaves Larus michahellis,PUBLICACIÓN CIENTÍFICA,REPOSITORIO ,,

Noguera, J.C., Alonso-Alvarez, C., Kim, S.Y., Morales, J. & Velando, A., 2011. Yolk testosterone reduces oxidative damages during postnatal development. Biology letters, 7(1), pp.93-95.

Conditions experienced during early life can influence the development of an organism and several physiological traits, even in adulthood. An important factor is the level of oxidative stress experienced during early life. In birds, extra-genomic egg substances, such as the testosterone hormone, may exert a widespread influence over the offspring phenotype. Interestingly, testosterone can also upregulate the bioavailability of certain antioxidants but simultaneously increases the susceptibility to oxidative stress in adulthood. However, little is known about the effects of maternally derived yolk testosterone on oxidative stress in developing birds. Here, we investigated the role of yolk testosterone on oxidative stress of yellow-legged gull chicks during their early development by experimentally increasing yolk testosterone levels. Levels of antioxidants, reactive oxygen species and lipid oxidative damage were determined in plasma during nestlings’ growth. Our results revealed that, contrary to control chicks, birds hatched from testosterone-treated eggs did not show an increase in the levels of oxidative damage during postnatal development. Moreover, the same birds showed a transient increase in plasma antioxidant levels. Our results suggest that yolk testosterone may shape the oxidative stress-resistance phenotype of the chicks during early development owing to an increase in antioxidant defences and repair processes.

Thrifty development: early‐life diet restriction reduces oxidative damage during later growth

Enlace mardeaves Larus michahellis,PUBLICACIÓN CIENTÍFICA,REPOSITORIO ,,

Noguera, J.C., Lores, M., Alonso‐Álvarez, C. and Velando, A., 2011. Thrifty development: early‐life diet restriction reduces oxidative damage during later growth. Functional Ecology, 25(5), pp.1144-1153.

1. Conditions during early stages of life may have an important effect on phenotype, by inducing programmed responses that may remain throughout the lifetime of an animal. One very important factor that can promote long-term changes in phenotype is restriction of food intake (dietary restriction, DR).
2. Recently, it has been shown that DR may induce an increase in antioxidant and repair mechanisms as a result of hormetic responses. Interestingly, the induction of antioxidant and repair mechanisms may be triggered by transitory increases in reactive oxygen species. Dietary-derived antioxidants, such as vitamin E, may be important to determine the compensatory effect of DR.
3. To investigate the effect of DR on attenuation of oxidative damage, we manipulated dietary intake (by restricting food ingestion) and antioxidant availability (by vitamin E supplementation) during the first days of life of yellow-legged gull (Larus michahellis) chicks. We then measured oxidative status and body mass during the early development of chicks.
4. We found that an early short event of food shortage strongly affected the oxidative status of the chicks and their growth patterns. We observed less oxidative damage to proteins and DNA in dietary restricted chicks, after the period of food restriction, than in non-restricted chicks. Unexpectedly, vitamin E supplementation did not suppress the hormetic effect of DR, but instead increased it.
5. These novel results support the idea that short events of DR during early development induce a reduction in oxidative damage in wild animals. The results suggest that DR promotes the induction of an early hormetic response in some antioxidant defence processes and/or repair mechanisms. These findings have important implications for our understanding of how early conditions may shape the phenotype of an organism, and also for the study of evolutionary trade-offs during early growth.

Differential effects of specific carotenoids on oxidative damage and immune response of gull chicks

Enlace mardeaves Larus michahellis,PUBLICACIÓN CIENTÍFICA,REPOSITORIO ,,,

Lucas, A., Morales, J. & Velando, A. Differential effects of specific carotenoids on oxidative damage and immune response of gull chicks. Journal of Experimental Biology 217, 1253–1262 (2014). doi: 10.1242/jeb.098004

Micronutrients are essential for normal metabolic processes during early development. Specifically, it has been suggested that diet-derived carotenoids can play a key role in physiological functions because of their antioxidant and immunostimulant properties. However, their role as antioxidants remains controversial. Additionally, it is also unclear whether oxidative stress mediates their immunostimulatory effects. In this field study, we separately supplemented yellow-legged gull (Larus michahellis) chicks with two carotenoids (lutein and β-carotene) with different molecular structures and different transformation pathways into other oxidative forms of carotenoids. We quantified their effect on the oxidative status and the immune response of chicks before and after an oxidative challenge with paraquat, a pro-oxidant molecule. Prior to oxidative challenge, none of the carotenoid treatments affected the oxidative status of chicks, but they enhanced the inflammatory response to an antigen compared with controls. The oxidative challenge enhanced plasma vitamin E levels (but not in β-carotene-supplemented chicks) and the antioxidant capacity in the short term. Interestingly, lutein-supplemented chicks showed lower oxidative damage to proteins than non-lutein-supplemented chicks. After the oxidative challenge, the positive effect of carotenoid supplementation on the immune response disappeared. Thus, these results suggest differential effects of two carotenoids with different molecular structures on the oxidative status. Lutein but not β-carotene helps to combat oxidative damage after a free-radical exposure. Additionally, the results indicate that the immunostimulatory effects of carotenoids are linked to oxidative status during early life.

Antioxidants safeguard telomeres in bold chicks

Enlace mardeaves Larus michahellis,PUBLICACIÓN CIENTÍFICA,REPOSITORIO ,,,,

Kim, S.-Y. & Velando, A. Antioxidants safeguard telomeres in bold chicks. Biology letters 11, 20150211 (2015). DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2015.0211

Telomeres are sensitive to damage induced by oxidative stress, and thus it is expected that dietary antioxidants may support the maintenance of telomere length in animals, particularly those with a fast rate of life (e.g. fast metabolism, activity and growth). We tested experimentally the effect of antioxidant supplements on telomere length during early development in wild gull chicks with natural individual variations in behaviour pattern and growth rate. Proactive chicks had shorter telomeres than reactive chicks, but the penalty for the bold behaviour pattern was reduced by antioxidant supplementation. Chicks growing faster had longer telomeres during early growth, suggesting that inherited quality supports a fast life history.