Healing potential of Caiman yacare (Daudin, 1802) visceral fat oil

Caiman yacare visceral fat oil was extracted, analyzed, and tested for healing potential. In vivo assays were performed by excisional wounds in rats and treated topically daily with Caiman oil for 10 days. The positive and negative controls were, respectively, with Dersani® (Essential Fatty Acids – EFA, reference substance) and saline solution (SS). The scattered area was measured daily, and at 3rd and 10th days the rats were euthanized and samples were processed for histological analyses. The cytotoxicity was evaluated by the MTT assay in non-tumor retinal pigment epithelium cells. The Caiman oil composition was 42.95 ± 1.03 % of saturated fatty acids and 43.74 ± 0.74 % of unsaturated ones. After 10 days of excisional wounds, the Caiman oil-treated animals present a larger scarred area than the negative control ones. Caiman oil and EFA treated animals present significantly more epidermal papillae than in SS-treated ones on day 10. Caiman oil treated animals, at 10th day, present a relative increased area of collagen fibers, as well as an elevated number of fibroblasts and monomorphonuclear cells in the wound region in comparison to both SS and EFA treated ones. The oil showed no significant cytotoxicity up to 500 μg/mL. Taken together, Caiman oil, extracted as a by-product of the C. yacare zootechnical disposal, demonstrated wound healing properties equal to the commercial available solution, subsidizing its ethnoknowledge.