2.3.2. Animals and experiment
The study protocol was approved by the Ethics Committee on
Animal Use of Federal University of Santa Maria (UFSM) (Process
23081.015050/2011-03). Thirty-two male rats (Rattus norvegicus
Wistar albino) (40.8171.52 g; age 21 days) were obtained from
the “Biotério Central” of UFSM, randomly distributed among the
treatments (8 animals/treatment) and individually housed in
metabolic cages with free access to feed and water. The temperature
was maintained at 2172 °C, and lighting was controlled
with a 12/12 h cycle throughout the experiment. The period of
adaptation to the experimental diets and ambient conditions was
6 days. In the experimental period (34 days), feed intake was determined
and faeces were collected daily. The body weight of the
animals was obtained every three days. These measurements were
used to determine daily consumption, weight gain, feed efficiency
ratio (FER), dry faecal production (DFP), apparent digestibility of
dietary fibre (AD-DF), faecal moisture content (FM), faecal pH, and
faecal nitrogen (FN) and lipids (FLip) excretion. On the 20th day of
the experimental period, all the animals were randomly selected
for four consecutive days, in groups of eight (two animals /
treatment) for analysis of their postprandial blood glucose response.
The animals that underwent intervention were excluded
from the next selection. After a 12 h overnight fast, the animals