Uso do glicerol como suplemento dietético em ratos

Abstract

The use of glycerol in diets for animals arouses interest for being a biodiesel industry waste rich in energy. Thus, this study aimed at evaluating metabolic and physiological parameters of rats supplemented with pure glycerol through gavage. Thirty Wistar rats (initial weight of 202.7 ± 29.98 g) received 0 (control / saline) 200, 400, 800 and 1600 mg of glycerol / kg of live weight (doubly distilled glycerin with 99.85% glycerol), in addition to food and water delivered ad libitum, for 28 days. We used a completely randomized design with five treatments and six replicates, with one animal per experimental plot. At the end of the experiment the animals were euthanized and, according to the results, we observed that there was no change (P> 0.05) on water intake and excretion, as well as the average daily weight gain, dry matter, ash and crude protein in the carcass and triglyceride plasma levels. There was a beneficial effect (P <0.05) up to the dose of 800mg/kg of glycerol over feed intake, percentage of carcass fat, plasma levels of aspartate transaminase (AST) and alanine transaminase (ALT), in addition to high HDLc) and low/very low density (LDLc + VLDLc) lipoproteins. The levels of total cholesterol and glucose increased to a dose of 800mg/kg, however remaining inside the normality range of the species, reducing from the dose of 1600mg/kg. Regarding the total leucocyte count, there was a tendency of reduction, but also within the reference values for rats. There were no renal or pancreatic lesions. We concluded that glycerol was presented as a safe supplement, causing even dose-dependent beneficial changes in rats.