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Age Affects Brain Protein Synthesis in Rats¹

Department of Home Economics, Aichi University of Education, Kariya, Aichi 448, Japan ^* Laboratory of Nutritional Biochemistry, School of Food and Nutritional Sciences, The University of Shizuoka, Yada, Shizuoka 422, Japan

The purpose of the present study was to determine whether age affected the rate of brain protein synthesis in rats. Experiments were conducted on three groups of rats, ages 4, 7 or 24 wk. The fractional rates of protein synthesis in brain, liver and kidney decreased and the RNA concentration (mg RNA/g protein) declined with age. In brain, liver and kidney, the RNA concentrations were significantly correlated with the fractional rates of protein synthesis. The RNA activity [g protein synthesized/(g RNA·d)] was not related to the fractional rate of protein synthesis in any organs except cerebral cortex. The results suggest that the rate of protein synthesis in brain declines with age after weaning, and that RNA concentration is at least partly related to the fractional rate of brain protein synthesis.

KEY WORDS: • age • RNA • brain • protein synthesis • rats

¹ The costs of publication of this article were defrayed in part by the payment of page charges. This article must therefore be hereby marked "advertisement" in accordance with 18 USC section 1734 solely to indicate this fact.

² To whom correspondence should be addressed.

Manuscript received 5 August 1993. Revision accepted 8 December 1993.