An assessment of techniques to manipulate oxidative stress in animals

Physiological ecologists require techniques for controlled oxidative challenges in live animals to facilitate the study of oxidative stress. Techniques for manipulating oxidative stress include agents that increase generation of pro-oxidants, such as paraquat, diquat, radiation, heavy metals, dietary oxidized lipids, and tert-butyl-hydroperoxide, as well as genetic (RNAi) and chemical (buthionine sulfoximine) knock-downs that target specific antioxidants. We critically assess both currently used and potentially useful methods for inducing systemic oxidative challenge in animals. We provide a resource for biologists to select the most robust methods for oxidative challenge in their study system, to improve interpretation of results within the context of cellular mechanisms and to maximize effectiveness of experiments while minimizing unintended side effects. A Lay Summary is available for this article.