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Effect of Excess Dietary Methionine on Weight Gain and Plasma Amino Acids in Kittens^1,2,

Daniel Fau^*,3, Katherine A. Smalley^*, James G. Morris^*, and Quinton R. Rogers^*

^* Department of Physiological Science Department of Animal Sciences, University of California, Davis, CA 95616

Four groups of five kittens each were individually fed for 6 wk either a purified control diet containing 0.5% methionine (Met) (based on 18% casein supplemented with arginine, cystine and threonine) or one of three experimental diets containing an additional 2, 3 or 4% L-Met. The diets with added Met caused a reduction in food intake (FI) on the second day and a negative body weight gain (BWG), in proportion to the level of added Met. After 10 d, kittens fed the 2 and 3% Met diets increased their FI and had positive BWG. During the last 10 d of the experiment, the control, 2% Met and 3% Met groups had BWG of 28, 15 and 0 g/d, respectively. Kittens given the 4% Met diet showed no adaptation and continued to lose weight. In these kittens plasma concentration of Met was 50–70 times and cystathionine about three times greater than in control kittens. Four male kittens were fed the same 4% Met diet for 6 wk and then switched to a diet containing 4% L-Met plus 4% glycine (Gly) for 12 d. Average daily FI was 21.4 ± 1.3 g with 4% Met and 48.5 ± 2.5 g after the addition of Gly, and BWG went from negative to positive. These results indicate that growing kittens are more sensitive than rats to excess Met and have a limited adaptive capacity. Kittens did not grow normally when the diet contained 2% or more dietary Met, which was equivalent to 0.6 g Met/(kg body wt·d).

KEY WORDS: • cat nutrition • methionine excess • glycine • plasma amino acids

¹ Supported in part by an NSF-International U.S./France exchange grant and in part by a gift from Carnation Company, Los Angeles, CA.

² Presented in part at the Annual Meeting of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology, Chicago, 1983 [Fau, D., Smalley, K. A., Rogers, Q. R. & Morris, J. G. (1983) Effects of excess dietary methionine in the kitten. Fed. Proc. 42: 542 (abs. 1469)].

³ Present address: Centre de Recherches sur la Nutrition, CNRS, 92190 Meudon-Bellevue, France.

Manuscript received 8 December 1986. Revision accepted 17 July 1987.