Effects of Quantity and Quality of Dietary Protein on the Brain Polysome Profile in Aged Rats¹

Abstract

  The purpose of this study was to determine whether the quantity and quality of dietary protein affected the polysome profile of the brain in aged rats. Two experiments were done on three groups of aged rats (30 wk) given the diets containing 20% casein, 5% casein, or 0% casein (experiment 1), and 20% casein, 20% gluten, or 20% gelatin (experiment 2) for 10 d. The aggregation in brain ribosomes declined with a decrease of quantity and quality of dietary protein except in the hippocampus. The RNA concentration (mg RNA/g protein) did not differ among the three groups varying the dietary protein in any brain regions. The results suggest that the higher quantity and quality of dietary protein improves the polysome profile in the brain of aged rats, and that the polysome profile is at least partly related to the mechanism by which the dietary protein affects brain protein synthesis in aged rats.