March/September 2001, Volume 7 No. 1&2

ARTICLE 1

Effects of Dietary Proteins and Trypsin Inhibitor on Growth and Lipid Metabolism in Hamsters

Kaniz F. Shireen^1*, Ralphenia D. Pace¹, Marceline Egnin² and Channapatna S. Prakash²

¹ Department of Food and Nutritional Sciences,
² Department of Agriculture, Tuskegee University, Tuskegee, Alabama 36088, Usa

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study was to determine trypsin inhibitor (TI) activity in sweetpotato and soy flour diets and their effects on the growth and lipid metabolism of hamsters. Male Golden Syrian hamsters were fed different types of dietary protein containing casein, soyprotein, transgenic sweetpotato plus soy flour (TSPF+SF), nontransgenic sweetpotato (NTSPF) plus soy flour (NTSPF+SF), transgenic sweetpotato (TSPF) and nontransgenic sweetpotato flour for 28 days. The TI activity was highest in TSPF+SF (19.30 TIU/mg) and NTSPF+SF (17.20 TIU/mg) diets that induced growth retardation in animals, lowest in TSPF (5.80 TIU/mg) and NTSPF (5.50 TIU/mg) diets, which did not affect the growth of the animals, and negligible in casein (<1.00 TIU/mg) and soyprotein (2.00 TIU/mg) diets. Plasma total cholesterol (TC), high density lipoprotein-cholesterol (HDL-C), low density lipoprotein-cholesterol (LDL-C) and triglyceride (TG) concentrations were significantly higher in hamsters fed the casein diet compared to those fed the soy protein, TSPF+SF, NTSPF+SF, TSPF and NTSPF diets.  A positive correlation was observed between plasma TC concentrations of hamsters and dietary methionine, lysine, leucine content and methionine/glycine ratios. Liver TC and TG concentrations of hamsters fed casein were significantly higher than those of all other diet groups. The supplementation of sweetpotato flour with soy flour increased both protein and TI activity in the diets and the lipid metabolism of hamsters were unaffected by TI activity.

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