Implications of ketogenic diet on weight gain, motor activity and cicatrization in Wistar rats

The ketogenic diet (KD) was initially developed for the treatment of pharmacoresistant epilepsy and a possible alternative for the obesity treatment, dyslipidemia, resistance to insulin, and nonalcoholic steatosis. However, few studies evaluate the diet effects in rats behavior or cicatrization. The objective of this work was to analyze the influence of the ketogenic diet on the weight gain, emotional behavior of the rats submitted to experimental models such as elevated plus maze (EPM) and open field (OF). The cicatrization time and leukocyte differentiations were also observed. Twenty male Wistar rats of two months age were divided into two groups. One was submitted to ketogenic diet (KD), and the control group (Co) was fed on commercial rations. After 7 days, the animals were weighed and submitted to EPM and OF. A small surgical incision was made and their blood was collected to a leukocyte count. It was verified that the rats from the KD presented less weight gain as compared with the rats from the Co (p < 0.05). The KD did not reveal differences on the behavior measures in the EPM model, but in the OF presented an ambulatory activity significantly bigger. The animals from the KD presented a cicatrization significantly better than Co after 72 h (p = 0.0035) and 96 h (p < 0.1). There was no difference between the groups for leukocyte count. Our results suggest that the KD can interfere on rats deambulation in animal models and improve the cicatrization response.