Abstract
This experiment was carried out to investigate the effect of dietary protein levels on the recovery from iron deficient status in rats. Weanling male Sprague-Dawley strain rats were used. Anemic rats were made by feeding an iron poor diet for 6 weeks. Those anemic animals were divided into two groups, and 5% and 20% amino acid mixed diets were tested as recovery diets. Iron contents in two recovery diets were almost same (5% A.A. diet: 1.02mg%, 20% A.A. diet: 1.01mg%). The recovery process was observed as gains of hematocrit, hemoglobin concentration and red blood cells at weekly intervals during 3 weeks of recovery period. Also, the iron contents in the liver, spleen, bone marrow, muscle and cerebrum were also examined. The following results were obtained.
1) The rats showed markedly iron deficiency anemia by feeding an iron poor diet for 6 weeks.
2) The values of Ht, Hb and red blood cells in both recovery groups slowly increased by feeding each recovery diets. However, there were no significant difference of those values between low (5%) and high (20%) protein diets at 3 weeks.
3) The iron contents of various tissues in both recovery groups somewhat increased at the time of deficiency, but those contents were still lower than those of control group. The contents of all tissues were not significant difference between both recovery groups.
4) This experiment did not indicate effect of dietary protein levels on the regeneration of Ht, Hb, RBC and iron contents of the tissues in anemic rats, and was discussed in relation to growth, the status of deficiency, iron intake and other factor in the animals.
