Abstract
In order to investigate the effect of mucin on the growth of rats, a number of young rats were divided into four groups receiving four different diets.
Two kinds of mucin (mucin-1 and mucin-2) and the “synthetic mucin”, as a control for the amount of protein and non-protein nitrogen compounds in mucin, were added to the basal diet at a level of 5%, respectively.
In the body weight, the group of rats receiving the mucin-1 supplement gained approximately 23.5% more than the control rats (p<0.01) and 17.2% more than the group fed on the “synthetic mucin” supplemented diet.
It was also found that an increase in food efficiency, i. e., grams of growth per grams of food, was shown by the rats receiving the diet containing mucin-1. In the examination of exercise faculty by treadmill, the running distance of mucin-treated rats was about 1.5-1.7 times longer than that of control group. However, among each group, no remarkable differences were found in the average weight of the liver, kidney, adrenal and testicle, nor in serum protein and non-protein nitrogen contents.
