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Growing rats received either a protein-free experimental diet or a diet containing 15% crude protein (whole egg). The crude fibre content of the diet was adjusted to 5%, 10%, or 20% by adding various proportions of what straw meal. Following a preliminary 7-day period of feeding the animals received L-14C-Leucine administered by stomach tube or by subcutaneous injection. In a 72-hour post-experimental period analyses were made to investigate the urinary and faecal excretion of radioactivity. About 50% of the amount of radioactivity excreted with the feaces were of endogenic origin. In general, higher percentages of straw meal in the diet produced higher levels of faecal 14C excretion. It was only in the animals placed on the whole egg diet that the TCA soluble portion of radioactivity was found to rise with the increasing straw content of the diet. The experimental results substantiate the assumption that native crude fibre influences the process of intestinal sloughing and, additionally, it is capable of abosrbing or adsorbing amino acids, peptides or protein, due to its spatial configuration. Similarly, it affects the digestion and resorption of proteins.

Male Albino rats (90-100 g) were fed ad libitum (with limited periods of feeding) for 14 days. The diets were adjusted to a crude protein content of 10%. Powdered whole egg, fish meal, yeast and gelatine were used as protein sources. Additionally, one group of rats was fed a protein-free diet. On the 15th day of experiment the rats were fed a test diet at a level of 2 g per 100 g of body weight. 2 hrs after that the rats received 25 muCi of 3H glycine and 5 muCi of 14C-L-Leucine per 100 g of body weight administered by way of intragastric infusion. It was found that a large proportion of the radioactive amino acids were absorbed as early as after 0.5 hr. The highest rate of absorption was observed in animals fed dietary proteins of poor quality or a protein free diet, so that in animals receiving a gelatine diet or a protein-free diet only 68.4% or 56.4% of the administered amount of 14C activity were detected inside the gastro intestinal tract after 0.5 hr. Analogous data for the 3H activity were 52.4% and 25.3%. Maximum absorption occurred after 3-7 hrs. Following this the level of radioactivity in the intestinal contents again increased reaching a peak value after 14-24 hrs; in the case of 14C activity this peak value amounted to 25.4% of the administered dose in animals fed the gelatine diet and 32.8% in the group receiving the protein-free diet. It was established that the major proportion of the resecreted amount of 14C activity was present in leucine. Until 72 hrs after the intake of 14C activity the level of radioactivity was again found to decline, a processes which was induced by processes occurring in the large intestines. Moreover, evidence was obtained in confirmation of previous findings, indicating that the composition of faecal amino acids was constant and unaffected by dietary proteins.

Male Albino rats (weighing 90-100 gms) were fed ad libitum for 14 days with limited periods of access to food. Powdered whole egg (V), fish meal (F), yeats (H), and gelatine (10% protein in dry matter) used as protein sources. Additionally, one group of rats received a protein-free (e). Radioactive tracers were administered by intragastric infusion of 25 mu Ci 3H glycine and 5 mu Ci 14C L-leucine per 100 gm of body weight 2 hrs after the feeding of 2 gm of the experimental diet per 100 gms of body weight. The level of uptake of radioactive tracers from the different sections of the gastro-intestinal tract was measurels of 3H and 14C labelling in intestinal tissues were observed 3 hrs and 7 hrs after infusion. The level of 14C labelling was found to be negatively correlated and the level of 3H labelling was positively correlated with the biological value of the diet. Intestinal tissues are capable of storing considerable amounts of 14C radioactivity. So, 72 hrs after infusion, the following levels of 14C radioactivity (expressed as percentage of the total dose of radioactivity) were found in tissues of the gastro-intestinal tract: whole egg: 8.4%, fish meal: 9.6%, yeast: 13.1%, gelatine: 14.9%; protein-free diet; 14.2%. The quotients correlating the levels of radioactivity from the intestinal contents with that found in the intestinal wall suggest that the walls of the small intestine possess a high capacity for absorption. At all times of radioactive measurements the walls of the small intestine were found to contain higher levels of both 14C and 3H radioactivity than the contents of small intestine.

Growing male rats received diets of varying biological value (protein sources: powdered whole egg (V); fish meal (F); yeast (H); gelatine (G); protein-free diet (e)) for a 14-day feeding period. Subsequently, 14C leucine and 3H glycine were administered intragastrically. The level of uptake of 14C and 3H radioactivity into blood plasma, liver and muscular tissue and the rate of incorporation of the radioactive tracers into the proteins of these tissues was examined. A negative correlation was found to exist between the incorporation of radioactivity into liver proteins and the biological value of dietary proteins, the former being mainly dependent on the level of incorporation into the liver. For muscular proteins the rate of incorporation decreases with the decreasing biological value of the dietary proteins. This may be attributed to the fact that with poor protein nutrition the rate of protein synthesis in the skeletal muscles is also reduced. Comparative studies on the specific 14C radioactivity from free leucine made in the group on the protein-free diet and in the group receiving the whole egg diet showed that the leucine pool of the skeletal muscles was markedly redueced in animals fed a protein-deficient diet while the leucine pool in the liver remained comparatively constant.