Loss of Body Protein and Antibody Production by Rats on Low Protein Diets.

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Abstract
Feeding a low protein diet to adult male albino rats for 100 days resulted in a steady loss of protein from the serum, erythrocyte mass, the liver and the carcass. The percentage loss per day was approx. linear in each instance during the 3-5 months. Hemolysin and bacterial agglutinin titers measured 6 days following antigen injn. also decreased as the duration of the protein deficiency increased. After 100 days of the low protein diet the antibody response was reduced to 5% or less of the original level, whereas, serum protein was reduced only to 49%, liver protein to 52% and carcass protein to 74% of the pre-deficiency level.