Avaliação do consumo materno de óleo de Castanha do Pará (Bertholletia excelsa) sobre o desenvolvimento somático e padrões murinométricos da prolede ratos Wistar.

Abstract

Physical development is a delicate and extremely important process for the progression of life, being influenced by nutrition, mainly by essential fatty acids, which have a fundamental role, and the Brazil nut (Bertholletia excelsa) is an abundant source of this type. of fatty acids. This study investigated the effects of maternal consumption of crude and refined Brazil nut oil on somatic development and murinometric measurements in the offspring of Wistar rats. The pups were divided into six groups, three groups with male pups (M) and three with female pups (F): control (CT-M, n=13 and CT-F, n=11) – treated with distilled water; crude oil (OB-M, n=12 and OB-F, n=12) and refined oil (OR-M, n=14 and OR-F, n=15) both treated with 3000 mg/kg of animal weight of crude and refined Brazil nut oil, respectively. Mothers were treated from the 7th day of pregnancy and throughout lactation. Somatic maturation was evaluated during lactation, from the first day of life, and murinometric measurements were performed with the anesthetized animals at 45 days of age, prior to euthanasia. The results were expressed as mean standard error (SME) and analyzed by One Way ANOVA, however, the results of somatic

maturation were expressed as median values of the day (Min-Max) and mediated by Kruskal- Wallis followed by Dunn's Test. The alpha error for rejecting the null hypothesis was p < 0.05.

In somatic maturation, OR-F showed delay in opening the ear, opening of the ear canal and appearance of epidermal hairs, and the OR-M group showed delay in opening the eyes. Females showed a delay in the eruption of lower incisors compared to males. In relation to murinometric measurements, the OR-M/OR-F groups presented greater measurements compared to the respective controls and the OB-M group presented a greater length compared to all groups. The OB-M group had a larger abdominal and chest circumference than its control group and the OR-M group had a greater measurement of these circumferences compared to all groups. On the other hand, the OB-F and OR-F groups had greater measurements of abdominal and chest circumference compared to CT-F. Regarding the difference between genders, the male groups obtained higher measurements compared to the female groups. Therefore, maternal supplementation of crude Brazil nut oil had a positive effect on somatic development and murinometric patterns, while refined oil delayed offspring somatic development and increased murinometric measurements, effects that could be harmful. Regarding gender, females showed greater sensitivity to consumption of refined oil, which negatively influenced somatic development and murinometry. More studies are needed to better investigate these effects and identify which substances present in Brazil nut crude oil bring benefits in relation to refined oil.