Oenothein B boosts antioxidant capacity and supports metabolic pathways that regulate antioxidant defense in Caenorhabditis elegans

Abstract

Oenothein B (OEB) has various biological functions, although few studies have focused on its effect on in vivo metabolic phenotypes. In the present study, the systematic antioxidant activity of OEB was evaluated both in vitro and in vivo, and the effect of OEB on metabolic pathways related to antioxidant capacity of Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans) was explored. Our findings indicate that OEB exhibits great antioxidant capacity and ability to scavenge free radicals and that OEB treatment can protect RAW 264.7 macrophages from oxidative damage by increasing superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity, catalase (CAT) activity and glutathione (GSH) content and the corresponding gene expression (sod2, cat, gpx1), while decreasing malonic dialdehyde (MDA) content. Moreover, OEB treatment significantly reduced ROS accumulation under oxidative stress conditions and increased glutathione peroxidase (GPx) activity and decreased MDA content in C. elegans. Metabolomics analysis revealed that sixteen out of forty-two significantly altered metabolites were selected as potential biomarkers related to alterations in the antioxidant status of worms, including metabolic pathways involved in amino acid metabolism, taurine and hypotaurine metabolism, lipid metabolism, and purine metabolism. Overall, our results provide new insights into the effects of OEB treatment on antioxidant capacity and metabolism that suggest that OEB could be a potentially good source of natural antioxidants.