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Understanding the antioxidant defense
What is oxidative stress?
Oxidative stress — a term often heard in discussions about health, welfare and well being — goes beyond just free radicals and antioxidants. It’s a complex phenomenon that causes chaos in all cells of the animal body.
Imagine the animal body as a well-organized country. Each organ is a city — full of bustling neighborhoods: the cells. Each cell is a functional district, home to key buildings working together.
The mitochondria: energy producer
Mitochondria produce energy to keep the city functioning— but also sparks: reactive oxygen species (ROS). The mitochondria’s in-house protection system relies on primary antioxidants, specific enzymes such as superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT) and glutathione peroxidase (GPX). They work like sprinklers, extinguishing sparks right at the source. To stay active, these “sprinklers” need trace elements – selenium, zinc, manganese, and copper – which keep them running smoothly.
Production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) is a natural consequence of life. It arises within the cells of animals as a by-product of metabolic processes, especially in the mitochondria, where energy is produced. Normally, the body has a finely tuned system to maintain a balance between ROS production and the action of antioxidants. Oxidative stress is the result of an imbalance between ROS and the body’s ability to counteract or neutralize their harmful effect with antioxidants. When stressors shift the balance, an imbalance can occur due to an overproduction of ROS or a depleted antioxidant system.
When stressors shift the balance
Stressors, such as heat, pathogens, housing conditions and vaccination can induce oxidative stress in the animal’s body – a situation where the whole neighbourhood is burning.
Compromised antioxidant system
Under stress, the mitochondria produces even more sparks. When too many sparks occur, the antioxidant defense system becomes overwhelmed. The fire then spreads beyond the mitochondria into other cellular areas.
Once the fire escapes the mitochondria, secondary antioxidants – the firefighters, like vitamin E, polyphenols and carotenoids– try to neutralize the flames. If the oxidative stress persists, even they cannot stop the fire, leading to irreversible damage and ultimately cell death. Uncontrolled oxidative stress weakens immunity, increases disease risk, reduces performance, and ultimately compromises livestock productivity.
Would you like your animal to be protected from this overwhelming experience and boost its in-house protection system?
Protect the energy production by strengthening the sprinkler system and fewer fires will spread. Feeding Melofeed stimulates the body’s natural production of primary antioxidants — effectively increasing the number of sprinklers in each mitochondrial power plant.
How to measure “more sprinklers”?
Western blot analysis makes it possible to see how many sprinklers the cells have actually installed.
By detecting proteins directly, this method shows whether key antioxidant enzymes are present in higher amounts. Tissue samples from different species (from rodents to farm and aquatic animals) were examined, covering organs such as heart, liver, muscle, and the reproductive tract.
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In these analyses, MELOFEED supplementation led to a consistent rise in the expression of the primary antioxidant enzymes SOD, CAT, and GPx. On average, levels were 25–30% higher, confirming that the cellular neighborhoods had indeed strengthened their sprinkler systems to better control the sparks of oxidative stress.
References
- Carillon et al. (2016): Diet supplementation with a specific melon concentrate improves oviduct antioxidant defenses and egg characteristics in laying hens. Poultry Science, 95: 1898-1904 – Carillon et al. (2014).
- Endogenous antioxidant defense induction by melon superoxide dismutase reduces cardiac hypertrophy in spontaneously hypertensive rats. Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry, 386(1-2), 125-1341. -Carillon et al. (2014).
- Curative Diet Supplementation with a Melon Superoxide Dismutase Reduces Adipose Tissue in Obese Hamsters by Improving Insulin Sensitivity. Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry, 386(1-2), 125-1341. – Carillon et al. (2013).
- Cafeteria Diet Induces Obesity and Insulin Resistance Associated with Oxidative Stress but Not with Inflammation: Improvement by Dietary Supplementation with a Melon Superoxide Dismutase. Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry, 372(1-2), 35-44. 6 Barbé et al. (2017): Stimulation of antioxidant defences and protection of the immune system in broilers supplemented with pelleted SOD-rich melon pulp concentrate. 21st European Symposium on Poultry Nutrition (Spain), poster.
*In laying hens fed MELOFEED for 6 weeks, the expression of endogenous antioxidant enzymes increased by 25-30% in all tissues of the reproductive tract (superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), glutathione peroxidase (GPx) compared to a non-supplemented control (Barbé et al., 2015; Carillon et al., 2016). Protein expression (% of control group), P < 0.05.
Published Sep 29, 2025 | Updated Oct 3, 2025
