Efeitos bioquímicos de dietas adicionadas de ora-pro-nóbis na nutrição de Drosophila melanogaster

Abstract

The leaves of Pereskia aculeata, a plant popularly known as ora-pro-nobis, are used in food due to their nutritional value and antioxidant capacity. This work aimed to evaluate the antioxidant and behavioral effects of adding flour from ora-pro-nobis leaves on the nutrition of Drosophila melanogaster. The flour from the leaves of the plant was incorporated in proportions of 5, 10 and 20% to the experimental diets, divided into groups of 50 flies each and exposed to the experimental protocol for 7 days. Afterwards, the flies were used to perform in vivo analyses, such as survival, longevity, consumption test, body weight, negative geotaxis and open field; and ex vivo, such as levels of reactive species (ERs), lipid peroxidation through the content of thiobarbituric acid reactive substance (TBARS), superoxide anion, protein thiols (PSH) non-protein thiols (NPSH) and activity of the enzymes acetylcholinesterase (AChE), superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase (CAT). The addition of ora-pro-nobis to the diet did not promote significant changes in consumption, body weight and survival in relation to the control group. The flies in the group with the addition of 10% ora-pro-nobis flour in the diet had greater longevity, which suggests a protective effect of the plant, delaying harmful metabolic processes such as oxidative stress, verified by changes in the indicators of ERs, TBARS, superoxide anion, NPSH, and activity of CAT and SOD enzymes. The results demonstrates the benefits of ora-pro-nobis in the different concentrations tested.