COMPARATIVE EFFECT OF AMINO-ACID MIXTURES WITH OR WITHOUT ASPARAGINE AND GLUTAMINE ON GROWTH OF RATS

When proteins, peptides and amino acid mixtures are compared, some ami no acid mixtures include asparagine and/or glutamine and others do not . Therefore in this experiment we studied the effect of the presence o r absence of these amino acids on the growth and nutritional status of rats. Rats weighing about 65 g were divided into 4 groups and fed exp erimental diets for 21 days. The diets contained 11% casein (N = 1.57% , group A), 10% amino acid mixture (N = 1.57%, including asparagine an d glutamine, group B), 10% amino acid mixture (N = 1.25%, excluding as paragine and glutamine, group C), or 12.5% amino acid mixture (N = 1.5 7%, excluding asparagine and glutamine, group D). In group D we increa sed amino acid concentration to 12.5% in order to make N concentration same as the diets of groups A and B. Daily food intake, body weight g ain and hematologic values were measured. Most of the indicators of gr oups A, B and C were similar and lower than those of group D. The resu lts suggest that amino acid mixtures excluding asparagine and glutamin e have the same effect as protein and the mixture including these amin o acids on growth and nutritional status of young rats but overestimat es the effect when total N concentration is increased to the level of protein.