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Effect of Protein Malnutrition on Glycoprotein Synthesis in Rat Cerebral Cortex Slices during the Period of Brain Growth Spurt¹

Department of Biochemistry, Institute of Biosciences, Rua Sarmento Leite esq. Luiz Englert, s/n, Centro, 90000 Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil

Wistar rats were fed a normal protein (25% casein) or low protein (8% casein) diet from the day of birth to the day when they were used in the study. Diets were isoenergetic and contained appropriate amounts of salts and vitamins. As early as d 2 of postnatal life, the rats fed the low protein diet had lower body weights than those fed the normal protein diet, but differences in brain weight between the two groups were observed only at 15 d of postnatal life. Eye opening was delayed by 2 d in the animals fed the low protein diet. Malnutrition had no effect on protein concentration in the cerebral cortex of the rats, which increased with age in both groups. [2-³H]Mannose incorporation into cerebral cortex proteins markedly decreased with age in rats fed the two diets. Cerebral cortex slices of 20-d-old rats fed the low protein diet incorporated more [2-³H]mannose than slices from rats of the same age fed the normal protein diet.

KEY WORDS: • protein malnutrition • glycoproteins • cerebral cortex • brain growth spurt

¹ Research supported by FINEP, CNPq, PROPESP-UFRGS and CAPES.

Manuscript received 6 December 1985. Revision accepted 18 July 1986.