Effect of Zinc Deficiency and Restricted Feeding on Protein and Ribonucleic Acid Metabolism of Rat Brain

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Abstract
Male weanling rats fed an egg albumin diet deficient in zinc (0.2 ppm Zn) for 3 weeks gained very little weight. During a 6-hour period following intraperitoneal injection of 65Zn, the brains of the zinc-deficient animals took up a larger percentage of the injected dose than did the brains of animals fed the zinc-supplemented diet (75 ppm Zn) either ad libitum, or restricted to allow a weight gain comparable to the zinc-deficient rats. The in vivo incorporation of intracerebrally injected 14C-L-leucine and 3H-uridine into the trichloroacetic acid-precipitable protein and the ribonucleic acid (RNA), respectively, of brain was determined. Neither zinc deficiency nor restricted feeding affected the rate of incorporation of 3H-uridine into RNA of the brain. The relative specific activities of the proteins isolated from the zinc-deficient and restricted-fed animals were somewhat similar, and were lower than those from the zinc-supplemented rats fed ad libitum.