Rice-based Protein Mixtures: Immune and Hepatic Responses in Rats

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Abstract
To investigate the suitability of various rice-based protein mixtures for antibody synthesis, agglutinins and hemolysins in serum and antibody-forming cells in the spleen were measured. Adult male rats were depleted of protein and repleted with diets containing 5 to 10% protein from rice or rice in combination with fish meal, mung beans, corn, egg or crystalline amino acids. Rats were immunized with sheep erythrocytes after 8 days of repletion and exsanguinated 6 days later. Circulating antibodies generally paralleled counts of antibody-forming cells in spleen. Increasing the concentration of dietary protein increased the weight of the spleen and the numbers of antibody-forming cells; the small differences in amino acid patterns of isonitrogenous diets had little effect on those measures. To evaluate the diets further, hepatic RNA, DNA, nitrogen and lipid were determined. Total hepatic nitrogen and RNA, as well as body weight, increased with nitrogen intake. Total hepatic DNA was relatively constant. Adding fish or amino acids to rice decreased hepatic fat, but addition of mung beans to rice or substituting fish in a rice-mung mixture was ineffective. Proteins that were most suitable for repletion of liver and of the whole animal did not always produce maximal immune response.