Research conducted by Gabriele Barrocas
ABSTRACT:
Oxidative stress, or the imbalance of the creation of reactive oxygen species and antioxidant defenses, plays a crucial role in the development of diabetes complications. Diabetes is a group of diseases that results from hyperglycemia, insufficient insulin action, and pathway-selective insulin resistance. Caenorhabditis elegans are transparent nematodes and make for an advantageous model for human diseases, such as diabetes. The purpose of this experiment was to replicate a diabetic environment using mutated and wild-type C.elegans and measure survivorship after inducing further oxidative stress. To resemble these types of conditions, C.elegans were placed in hyperglycemic growth media and normal growth media, C.elegans of a mutated GLO1 gene and wild-type strain were tested, and were subjected to induced oxidative stress by introducing juglone and hydrogen peroxide. Due to the high prevalence of diabetes, it’s important to understand all aspects of the disorder, including oxidative stress, a less commonly-associated element. This experiment impacts future research by providing the effects of additional oxidative stress in diabetic individuals. Wild-type C.Elegans had normal population growth even when subjected to oxidative stress and hyperglycemia. Mutated C.elegans died out quickly due to the inability to handle their environmental conditions but reproduction rates ended up skyrocketing after the first day. The surviving C.elegans could develop and genetically pass on resistance, due to their short reproduction rate, allowing them to thrive in the environment.