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In this sense, Harrington and Harley [30] and Zuckerman and Geist [31] showed that vitamin E (200 μg/mL) prolonged the life span and survival of C. elegans. Meanwhile, Kim et al. [35] mentioned that vitamin E improved longevity of nematodes by increasing their resistance against oxidative stress. In contrast, higher concentration of vitamin E (400 μg/mL) proved to have a toxic effect on nematode survival, exhibiting adverse effects on nematode reproduction and growth delay [30]. This is consistent with findings of Li et al. [34] who showed that high concentrations of vitamin E had neurotoxic effects on C. elegans. They found that elevated levels of vitamin E induce abnormal neuronal development that disrupts nematode thermosensation and thermotaxis. Similarly, nematodes supplemented with high doses of antioxidants, such as EUK-8 and EUK-134 (SOD mimetics), display shorter life span due to increased ROS production [19, 21]. In addition, Chen et al. [7], Yazaki et al. [29], and Desjardins et al. [36] have suggested that high levels of antioxidants exhibit a prooxidant and toxic effect on the organism, while lower

Antioxidant compounds achieve their protective effect through at least two mechanisms, direct suppression of free radicals and oxidants and potentiation of the synthesis and activity of metabolites and enzymes in the body [37]. Numerous studies have shown that resistance against oxidative stress of nematodes fed with antioxidants is not solely caused by the ability to scavenge free radicals and reverse oxidative damage. Resistance also involves the regulation of antioxidant enzymes and defenses (SOD, CAT, and GPx) [8, 29]. In this sense, it has been noted that mutant strains age-1 and daf-2 have higher expression and activity of CAT and SOD enzymes than the wild strain, thus increasing their life span and tolerance to oxidative and thermal stress. On the other hand, mutant strain mev-1 has lower life span due to paraquat hypersensitivity and decreased SOD levels [20]. Other mechanisms involved in the resistance are modulation of transcriptional factors, signaling pathways, and reduction of ROS production, mechanisms that influence development,

growth, metabolism, and survival of C. elegans [8, 24, 26, 29, 32, 35].

Continuous exposure of nematodes to Trolox increased their resistance against oxidative stress and survival in comparison to those without treatment. This suggests that Trolox is not only capable of neutralizing oxidative damage but also triggers changes at physiological and molecular levels that enhanced its antioxidant activity and the organism's antioxidant defenses, allowing them to cope with the

The author M.A. González-Peña thanks the Universidad de las Américas Puebla

(UDLAP) and Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología (CONACYT) for the

concentrations display a protective effect.

Technology, Science and Culture - A Global Vision, Volume II

oxidative stress and increasing their survival.

scholarship granted to complete his doctoral degree.

4. Conclusions

Acknowledgements

78

Marco Antonio González-Peña<sup>1</sup> , José Daniel Lozada-Ramírez<sup>2</sup> and Ana Eugenia Ortega-Regules<sup>3</sup> \*

1 Department of Chemical and Food Engineering, Universidad de las Américas Puebla, Cholula, Puebla, Mexico

2 Department of Chemical and Biological Sciences, Universidad de las Américas Puebla, Cholula, Puebla, Mexico

3 Department of Health Sciences, Universidad de las Américas Puebla, Cholula, Puebla, Mexico

\*Address all correspondence to: ana.ortega@udlap.mx

© 2020 The Author(s). Licensee IntechOpen. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
