Abstract
Male weanling guinea pigs fed ad libitum a 3 per cent protein diet for 21 days demonstrated marked reduction in plasma levels of essential amino acids when compared with control animals pair-fed normal protein diet. Most prominently affected were leucine(−70%), isoleucine (−69%), valine (−67%), threonine (−63%), phenylalanine (−54%) and lysine (−52%). Similar changes were noted in the liver. Plasma and liver contents of free histidine were resistant to malnutrition. Changes in brain levels of free amino acids were less extensive than in liver and plasma. Protein malnutrition produced a two-fold increase in brain content of free histidine, and associated with this were prominent elevations in levels of homocarnosine (+91%) and histamine (+161%). Several lines of evidence suggest some neuroregulatory roles for histamine and homocarnosine, and marked alterations in their levels may be one of the mechanisms by which protein-energy malnutrition elicits changes in behaviour and neuroendocrine function.
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