The effect of a zinc-deficient diet and the inflammatory response on rat liver mitochondrial protein synthesis

Abstract

It was found that animals on a zinc-deficient diet, stimulated with casein, displayed a greater than twofold increase in the rate of liver mitochondrial protein synthesis compared to pair-fed or ad lib controls. Nonstimulated animals on a zinc-deficient diet had a slight decrease (16%) in the rate of mitochondrial protein synthesis. This twofold increase in the rate of protein synthesis in stimulated animals in vitro was also observed in vitro. SDS-gel electrophoresis of fractionated mitochondria from all three groups revealed a stimulation of mitochondrially synthesized proteins in the molecular weight range of 40,000–27,000 daltons in animals on a zinc-deficient diet stimulated with casein. Also, an increase in the levels of cytochromes a+a 3 was observed.