![]() |
|
|
Manuscript received 1 July 1996. Initial reviews completed 21 October 1996. Revision accepted 14 January 1997.
,
, , and
* Departments of Molecular Biosciences, and
Anatomy, Physiology, and Cell Biology, School of Veterinary Medicine, Food Intake Laboratory, and
Department of Nutrition, University of California, Davis, CA 95616
The rat's sensitivity to changes in the dietary limiting amino acid concentration (LAA) was examined on the basis of dietary selection. Rats were adapted to purified low protein basal (Basal) diets in which threonine (Thr) was the LAA (0.188-0.212% wt/wt of diet). In Experiment 1, rats made a clear selection for their adaptation diet over a diet containing 0.012% less threonine after 2-3 d of choice. Rats made no clear dietary selection when given a choice between their adaptation diet and a diet containing 0.012% more threonine. Experiment 2 was conducted to examine the rat's sensitivity to small decreases in the LAA concentration. Rats adapted to a 0.200% Thr-Basal diet clearly responded to decreases as small as 0.009% in the concentration of threonine and selected against the more deficient diet when given a choice between it and the 0.200% Thr-Basal adaptation diet. Because plasma and brain amino acid concentrations are important for detection of other amino acid deficiencies, these variables were measured to determine whether they were affected by such small changes in dietary amino acid concentration. In Experiments 3 and 4, rats were adapted to the 0.200% Thr-Basal diet and then fed 0.188, 0.200 or 0.212% Thr-Basal diets for 6 h, or 0.188 and 0.212% Thr-Basal for 54 h. Amino acid concentrations in plasma, prepiriform cortex and anterior cingulate cortex were not significantly different among treatments. Norepinephrine concentration in the prepiriform cortex was not affected by dietary treatment. We conclude that small decreases in LAA concentration can cause selection against the more deficient diet, but that detection of such deficiencies does not require significant changes in plasma and brain amino acid concentrations.
Key words: amino acid deficiency, threonine, food intake, diet selection, rats.
This article has been cited by other articles:
![]() |
S. Oka, R. Hattori, F. Kurosaki, M. Toyama, L. A. Williams, W. Yu, J. R. Votaw, Y. Yoshida, M. M. Goodman, and O. Ito A Preliminary Study of Anti-1-Amino-3-18F-Fluorocyclobutyl-1-Carboxylic Acid for the Detection of Prostate Cancer J. Nucl. Med., January 1, 2007; 48(1): 46 - 55. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
F. X. Roth, C. Meindl, and T. Ettle Evidence of a dietary selection for methionine by the piglet J Anim Sci, February 1, 2006; 84(2): 379 - 386. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
Q. R. Rogers, A. R. Wigle, A. Laufer, V. H. Castellanos, and J. G. Morris Cats Select for Adequate Methionine but Not Threonine J. Nutr., August 1, 2004; 134(8): 2046S - 2049S. [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
B. J. Hrupka, Y. Lin, D. W. Gietzen, and Q. R. Rogers Lysine Deficiency Alters Diet Selection without Depressing Food Intake in Rats J. Nutr., February 1, 1999; 129(2): 424 - 430. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
W. Schultz Predictive Reward Signal of Dopamine Neurons J Neurophysiol, July 1, 1998; 80(1): 1 - 27. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
L. L. Bellinger, J. F. Evans, and D. W. Gietzen Dorsomedial Hypothalamic Lesions Alter Intake of an Imbalanced Amino Acid Diet in Rats J. Nutr., July 1, 1998; 128(7): 1213 - 1217. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||