The Journal of Nutrition Vol. 127 No. 7 July 1997, pp. 1279-1283
Copyright ©1997 by the American Society for Nutritional Sciences

Low Dietary Protein Impairs Blood Coagulation in BHE/cdb Rats

Manuscript received 8 August 1996. Initial reviews completed 9 October, 1996. Revision accepted 4 March, 1997.

Yow-Ling Chang, Hee-Sook Sohn^*, Kung-Chi Chan, Carolyn D. Berdanier, and James L. Hargrove

The Department of Foods and Nutrition, The University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602-3622, ^* Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition, Chonbuk National University, Chonju 561-756, Korea and  Department of Foods and Nutrition, Providence University, Shalu, Taichung, Taiwan, ROC

The influence of dietary protein on blood coagulation tests was evaluated in BHE/cdb rats. Three experiments were conducted in order to compare effects of diets with low (8 g/100 g diet) or high (38 g/100 g diet) protein, to establish values for coagulation tests at intermediate (12-30 g/100 g diet) concentrations of dietary protein, and to compare feeding identical quantities of diets with 8 g protein/100 g diet vs. 18 g protein/100 g diet. After 4 wk of feeding the semipurified diets, bleeding time exceeded 15 min in the groups fed low protein diets, compared to a range of 3-6 min for the groups fed high protein diets. Several in vitro tests of coagulation were abnormal in the rats fed low protein diets. For example, prothrombin time averaged 27 ± 8 s in rats fed 8 g protein/100 g diet plus beef tallow, but 17 ± 1 s in rats fed 38 g protein/100 g diet plus tallow. The coagulation deficit in rats fed low protein was not affected by fat source (tallow vs. menhaden oil), but fibrinogen was elevated in rats fed diets with menhaden oil. Conversely, no differences in coagulation tests were observed among rats fed 12-30 g protein/100 g diet. Bleeding times ranged from 7 to 9 min, and prothrombin time was 17-18 s. Significant differences in plasma fibrinogen concentration and prothrombin time were observed in rats fed 8 vs. 18 g protein/100 g diet at a fixed rate of 6 g/100 g body weight. Platelet and blood cell numbers were unaffected by dietary protein. The evidence for multiple deficits in the coagulation system suggests that hepatic function in BHE/cdb rats may become impaired when the rats are fed low protein diets of the composition used here.

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