Evaluation of the response to gamma-oryzanol supplementation in horses submitted to physical exercise

• Grant number: 11/12260-1
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: September 01, 2011
• End date: August 31, 2012
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Veterinary Medicine
• Principal Investigator: Alexandre Augusto de Oliveira Gobesso
• Grantee: Julia Rizzo de Medeiros Ferreira
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Medicina Veterinária e Zootecnia (FMVZ). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

This experiment will be accomplished in the Laboratório de Pesquisa em Alimentação e Fisiologia do Exercício em Equinos (LABEQUI) and it belongs to FMVZ-USP, Campus Pirassununga. Ten horses will be submitted to physical aerobic exercise and to a diet with gamma-oryzanol supplementation. The horses are going to be divided in two groups, with five animals each, being the first group the control and the other one supplemented with gamma-oryzanol (gamma group). The daily food consumption adopted is 2% of the live weight as dry matter, which 50% is grass hay and 50% is commercial ration. Every meal, all the animals will receive 50 ml of soy oil, but only the gamma group is going to receive gamma-oryzanol (ten grams daily). Both groups will be submitted to a ring exerciser for horses, during 60 minutes, in a velocity of 3,2 m/s, 5 times per week. Completely randomized design with repeated measurements over time will be used and the treatments will be organized in factorial graph. During the experimental period of 6 months, the horses are going to be evaluated monthly for weight gain and body score. Every 45 days, there will be muscle biopsy of the gluteus medius muscle for histoquimic analysis and morphometric analysis of the muscle fibers to determine muscle glicogen and capilar density. Ultrasound measurement of longissimus dorsi muscle as area, width, depth and thickness of fat will be made in transversal cut. Except body score data which are going to be analyzed by nonparametric statistics, all data will be analyzed by regression analysis. (AU)