Assessing the purported beneficial properties of nutraceuticals in zebrafish larvae (Danio rerio)
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Date
2025-12
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University of New Brunswick
Abstract
Natural compounds with either demonstrated or putative pharmacological properties (nutraceuticals) are an area of growing research with the rising demand for alternatives to traditional pharmacological intervention, such as glucocorticoids. Many prospective nutraceuticals and conventional pharmaceutical compounds are of limited utility due to issues with solubility, bioavailability, or reactivity; nanoparticle encapsulation is one technique being explored to address bioavailability of compounds found in nutraceuticals. In this thesis, I assess the ability of β-glucan extracts from mushrooms to protect tissues from reactive oxygen species and inflammatory tissue remodeling in response to lipopolysaccharides in vivo. I find that β-glucans function as both anti-inflammatories and antioxidants, with β-glucan extracts from different mushrooms exhibiting varying effects. I also assess the efficacy of nanoparticles designed to encapsulate and deliver compounds with poor bioavailability. This thesis utilizes the zebrafish model system to assess the antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties of nutraceutical extracts with purported beneficial effects in vivo.