Assessment on Oxidative Stress in Animals: From Experimental Models to Animal Production

Oxygen is a key element involved in a variety of vital physiological reactions in aerobic organisms, including those produced in the electron transport chain, hydroxylation, and oxygenation. Reactive oxygen species and reactive oxygen nitrogen species (ROS/RONS) are naturally formed as by-products from these previously mentioned processes and reactions involving the O2 molecules. Under healthy conditions, the harmful effects of ROS/RONS in the organisms are controlled by antioxidants, molecules of enzymatic or non-enzymatic nature, able to prevent, retard, or eliminate oxidative damage. Nevertheless, when ROS/RONS production exceeds the antioxidant capacity of one organism, oxidative stress emerges, leading to the apparition of many diseases, some of which can depict significant losses in the field of animal production. Thereby, looking for increasing animal productivity, procedures to mitigate the effects of oxidative stress on living organisms are tested in laboratory animal models, and the obtained results are used to develop strategies that avoid oxidative stress in farm animals either invertebrates (mollusks and crustacean species) or vertebrates (fish, birds, and mammals). In this chapter, oxidative stress will be addressed from the field of animal health and welfare and its impact on animal production, presenting some strategies, studies conducted, and recent perspectives to mitigate the effects of oxidative stress and improve the productivity indicators in farm animals