Effects of Buriti (Mauritia flexuosa) Oil and Pulp Supplementation on Lipid Profile and Hepatic Markers in Healthy Mice

Abstract

Background: Amazonian biodiversity includes plant resources with potential metabolic activity. Buriti (Mauritia flexuosa) contains monounsaturated fatty acids, carotenoids, and phenolic compounds. Objectives: This study evaluated treatment-associated biochemical and morphological differences after buriti oil or lyophilized pulp supplementation in healthy mice. Methods: Seventy-five male Swiss mice were allocated to five groups (n = 15/group) and received water, buriti oil, or lyophilized buriti pulp by gavage three times weekly for eight weeks. The control group received 1 mL water by gavage three times weekly under the same handling and administration schedule as the treatment groups. The complete inferential matrix included 11 endpoints: alanine aminotransferase, aspartate aminotransferase, albumin, creatinine, epididymal fat, HDL-c, retroperitoneal fat, total cholesterol, total proteins, triglycerides, and urea. Group comparisons used procedures selected after residual and variance diagnostics, with treatment-versus-control adjustments and global Holm adjustment across 44 contrasts. Exploratory machine-learning analyses used repeated nested cross-validation with five outer folds, three repetitions, and three inner folds; standardization and hyperparameter selection were performed within the training folds using random seed 20260918. Results: After global adjustment, treatment-associated differences were observed for total cholesterol, ALT, total proteins, albumin, creatinine, and selected adipose-tissue depots. Triglyceride contrasts did not remain statistically significant after global adjustment. Mean accuracy across the eight classifiers ranged from 0.40 to 0.76, with Decision Tree showing the highest mean accuracy (0.76; 95% CI, 0.72–0.79). Conclusions: In this healthy-mouse model, buriti supplementation was associated with selected biochemical and morphological differences. The findings do not establish hepatoprotection, absence of toxicity, therapeutic efficacy, or clinical applicability.