Preliminary studies of elaboration, acceptability and nutritional quality of formulations rich in Omega-3 fatty acids for their use in experimental murine models.

COLUSSSI NARELLA ANTONINA; ROMERO VIDOMLANSKY PATRICIA RUTH; TODARO JUAN SANTIAGO; MELANA COLAVITA JUAN PABLO; AGUIRRE JULIO ANDRÉS; GORBAN DE LAPERTOSA SILVIA BEATRIZ; AGUIRRE MARÍA VICTORIA

CABA

Congreso; 21st International Congress of Nutrition; 2017

Background: Basic metabolic research of chronic non transmissible diseases often needs the use of different diets in experimental animals, these must be designed for being complete. Given the already observed functional effects of Omega-3 fatty acids and their high content in chia seeds, it is interesting to find a suitable method for their incorporation into the murine diet. Objective: To evaluate the organoleptic characteristics, acceptability and nutritional quality of food rich in Omega-3 fatty acids in Balb-c mice from the Biotherium of Faculty of Medicine, Universidad Nacional del Nordeste. Methods: Adult mice (2 months) of the Balb-c strain were used. The protocol was approved by the Institutional Committee for Care and Use of Experimental Animals. Mice were randomly distributed in 4 lots with food and water ad-libitum. Experimental groups received a diet rich in Omega-3, while the control lots (A) were provided with a standard commercial feed for 15 days. The diets were prepared manually with natural ingredients according to nutritional requirements: one formulation with egg proteins (B) and one with milk and egg (C).The semi-solid preparations were molded as standard pellets, which were: 1) dried in an oven for 2 h at 80°C, and 2) autoclaved (103 kPa, 120ºC) 10 min and further dried 5 h at 40°C.Thus, the four diets were: B1, B2, C1, C2. The evaluation of diets include: the organoleptic characteristics of the pellets, its acceptability and degree of digestion. Measurements involved the progression of mice body weight, the consumption of pellets and the study of feces with coprologic samples were observed with light microscope (40x). Results: The smell and color of the food were conventional and similar among different groups. The diet with the greatest acceptability was C. Animals fed with diet B decreased body weight in comparison with those fed with diet C, which maintained or increased it similarly to controls.Conclusions: This study let us conclude that the best formulation of a pellet rich in Omega-3 from chia seeds is C1. Additionally, this work might be used for evaluating Omega-3 bioavailability in further settings for metabolic models of chronic non transmissible diseases.