Efeitos da exposição e da retirada da sacarose sobre comportamento relacionado à depressão em ratos adolescentes

Abstract

Refined sugar (sucrose) is very versatile and cheap and can be found in many recipes. A diet high in sugar can have negative consequences, such as obesity and diabetes, and its withdrawal can promote behavioral changes, such as binge eating. The aim of this research was to test the hypothesis that sucrose withdrawal favors depression-related behaviors. For this purpose, 30-day Wistar rats from the vivarium of the Centro de Biosciences-UFRN were used, receiving water and feed ad libitum and were submitted to the paradigm of choosing two bottles with 250 ml of water and/or 5% sucrose (group sucrose) for 16 days, followed by its withdrawal from 72h to 96h (short-term withdrawal group) or 22 to 23 days (long-term withdrawal group). Animals in the control group, sucrose, short-term withdrawal and long-term withdrawal were submitted to the open field test 72h and 22 days after the replacement of sucrose by water for the short-term and long-term withdrawal groups, respectively. Twenty-four hours after the open field test, all groups were submitted to the forced swim test. The data obtained here showed no behavioral effects of exposure or withdrawal in the short and long term of sucrose in the forced swimming test, as well as no statistical differences in the results of the locomotion parameter in the open field test. Thus, we conclude that short- and long-term exposure and withdrawal of sucrose were not able to generate depressive-like behavior in adolescent rats.