TY - JOUR AU - Silva de Carvalho , Tayana AU - Brasil , Alódia AU - Leão , Luana K. R. AU - Valente Braga , Danielle AU - Santos-Silva , Mateus AU - Assad , Nadyme AU - Lucas Luz , Waldo AU - de Jesus O. Batista , Evander AU - de Nazareth Tavares Bastos , Gilmara AU - Renata Matos Herculano Oliveira , Karen AU - Luiz Wanderley Picanço Diniz , Domingos AU - Manoel Herculano , Anderson PY - 2022/11/02 Y2 - 2024/03/28 TI - Açaí (<em>Euterpe oleracea</em>) pulp-enriched diet induces anxiolytic-like effects and improves memory retention JF - Food & Nutrition Research JA - fnr VL - 66 IS - SE - Original Articles DO - 10.29219/fnr.v66.8851 UR - https://foodandnutritionresearch.net/index.php/fnr/article/view/8851 SP - AB - Background: Açaí (Euterpe oleracea) has a rich nutritional composition, showing nutraceutical and protective effects in several organs. In this study, the effects of an açaí-enriched diet on motor performance, anxiety-like behavior, and memory retention were deeply investigated.Methods: Eight-week male Wistar rats were fed with an Euterpe oleracea (EO) pulp-enriched diet, an olive oil-enriched (OO) diet (polyunsaturated fatty acid [PUFA] fat control diet), or a chow diet for 31 days (28 days pre-treatment and 3 days during behavioral tests). Afterward, animals were submitted to a battery of behavioral tests to evaluate spontaneous motor behavior (open-field test), anxiety-like behavior (elevated plus maze and open-field test), and memory retention (step-down). Oxidative stress in the hippocampus was evaluated by a lipid peroxidation assay.Results: EO-enriched diet did not influence the body weight and food intake but increased the glucose plasmatic level after 31 days under this diet. However, a similar fat-enriched diet stimulated a marked weight gain and reduced the food intake, followed by changes in the plasmatic lipid markers. EO-enriched diet preserved the motor spontaneous performance, increased the exploration in the aversive environment (anxiolytic-like effects), and elevated the latency to step-down (improved memory retention). The EO-enriched diet also reduced the level of lipid peroxidation in the hippocampus. These positive effects of EO-enriched diet can greatly support the usage of this diet as a preventive therapy.Conclusion: Taken together, the current study suggests that Euterpe oleracea-enriched diet promotes anxiolytic-like effects and improves memory consolidation, possibly due to the reduced levels of lipid peroxidation in the hippocampus. ER -