Delivery of alpha-tocopherol through soluble dietary fibre-based nanofibres for improving the life span of Caenorhabditis elegans

AbstractThe effect of alpha-tocopherol (α-TOC) delivered by soluble dietary fibre-based nanofibres (α-TOC-SDNF) on the life span of nematode Caenorhabditis elegans N2 (wild type) and TK22 (mev-1 mutants) with and without heat shock was investigated. Without heat shock, the wild-type and mev-1 mutants maintained in the 100 µg/mL of α-TOC-SDNF had longer life spans than their respective blank control groups. With heat shock, the wild-type N2 in the 200 µg/mL of α-TOC-SDNF had a survival rate of 5% at day 49, while no nematodes survived in the blank control group. An increased pharyngeal pumping rate was observed in the α-TOC-SDNF treated mev-1 mutants worms compared to the blank control group. Encapsulating α-TOC in SDNF yielded protective effects and the life span and pumping rate of C. elegans was increased with α-TOC delivered by SDNF.