Comparação de parâmetros de ansiedade entre machos e fêmeas da prole de ratas wistar suplementadas com óleo de milho (Zea mays) durante a gestação e lactação

Abstract

Corn is one of the most important crops for the Brazilian economy, being the second largest grain production in the national territory. Corn oil is an agrifood product extracted from the corn germ. This oil has high nutritional value, containing in its composition a high content of polyunsaturated fatty acids, of which the main ones are palmitic, oleic, and linoleic acids, as well as high levels of vitamin A and E. It is known that during pregnancy, women go through physiological adaptation processes that culminate in the decrease of some nutrients, such as fatty acids, which can bring complications to the pregnancy, besides these being important for the formation of the central nervous system of the fetus. Knowing the composition of corn oil, and the benefits that its consumption can bring, this study aims to evaluate the influence of maternal supplementation of Wistar rats, during gestation and lactation, with corn oil, on anxiety parameters in the offspring of these rats. Two groups were formed from the mothers: Control Group (CG), which received soybean oil, and the Corn Oil Group (GM), to which were administered a dose of 0.3mL/100g of weight of the respective oil. Supplementation occurred daily, by gavage, during the entire period of gestation and lactation. The offspring animals, in a standardized quantity of 9 male and 7 female rats, were submitted to three tests to evaluate anxiety parameters: the Elevated Cross Maze (ECL), Open Field Habituation (AC) and the Light-Dark Box (EC) tests. To analyze the results obtained, we used the Student t-test, taking into account the significance level for rejection of the null hypothesis of p<0.05. The statistical analyses were performed using Graph Pad Prism software, version 9.0.0. At the end of the tests, and after the analysis of the results, it could be observed that the supplementation with corn oil in the aforementioned dose was not able to reduce anxiety parameters of the animals in the parameters evaluated in the LCE or EC, where all parameters showed p>0.05. When we evaluated the indicators of CA, we could observe that the supplementation generated statistically positive effects on the ambulation and grooming parameters in males and females from GM (p=0.0477 for males and p=0.0406 for females on the ambulation parameter; p=0.0179 for males and p=0.0063 for females on the grooming parameter), and on the time on cornering parameter in females from GM (p=0.05343). Finally, it can be concluded that the supplementation with corn oil during gestation and lactation, in this research, was only able to alter anxiety parameters in the Open Field apparatus. Also, based on the results obtained, it can be concluded that there were no significant differences in anxiety parameters between GM males and females, since they did not differ statistically in the parameters evaluated.