Liver And Kidney Cell Proliferation During The Recovery From Malnutrition With Organic And Transgenic Soy

Abstract

Organic soy (OS) and transgenic or genetically modified soy (GMS) were evaluated in the recovery from malnutrition. Ninety-six male Wistar rats weaned on the 21st day were used. 1st phase - malnutrition - 14 days: 24 rats were undernourished with aproteic food free of iron and distributed in 3 groups (n=8); control groups received food with 10% protein based on GMS, OS or Casein (C). 2nd phase - recovery - 28 days: undernourished and control rats received food with 10% of the respective protein. Feeding was ad libitum. Rats were killed at the 1st and 2nd phases; liver and kidneys were weighed and collected in buffered 10% formalin. Mitoses/field were counted under x640 magnification and compared using Mann-Whitney and t-Student tests. All the protein groups had significant weight gain of liver and kidneys in the 2nd phase, but the undernourished rats in recovery did not attain normal organ weight. C and OS provided better and significant results when compared to GMS in the 2nd phase. C was more effective for organ development in normal animals. All the protein groups had increased mitoses in the 2nd phase. C and GMS had statistical differences on the respective groups of the 1st phase in the liver; and C and OS in the kidney. The number of mitoses in the recovered organs was always higher than in normal, with significant differences for all the protein groups in the liver and for GMS in the kidney. OS was more effective than GMS for liver and kidney development in rats previously undernourished and normal. The high rate of mitoses in recovered organs suggests that the tissue mass could increase after a longer period of feeding with each one of the protein regimens. Support: CNPq/PIBIC/UFF