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Among food proteins, alpha-lactalbumin (LAC) has the highest ratio of tryptophan (Trp) over its competitor amino acids. Consequently, contrary to casein (CAS), LAC ingestion increases Trp access to the brain leading to enhanced serotonin (5-HT) synthesis. As an index of serotonergic activity, we assessed extracellular 5-HT in response to LAC ingestion, using microdialysis, and performed behavioural tests in rats in order to characterise the suggested improvements of mood observed in humans after ingestion of this protein. Rats were fed with diets enriched either in LAC or CAS as control, acutely (30 min meals) or chronically (3 and 6 days). A 30 min LAC meal significantly increased 5-HT release in the medial hypothalamus. This effect disappeared after 3 and 6 days of diet. The basal premeal 5-HT levels were increasingly enhanced by the LAC diet. Compared to a CAS meal, LAC increased the percentage of time spent on the open arms of the elevated plus maze and the number of visits to the centre of the open field, suggesting an anxiolytic-like effect. A single LAC meal decreased sucrose consumption, while 3 or 6 days diets enhanced it, reflecting an appetitive and/or rewarding action. In conclusion, LAC ingestion induces anxiolytic-like and rewarding effects possibly related to serotonergic activation. Shifting transiently, the commonly consumed CAS-enriched to LAC-enriched diets may induce beneficial effects on mood.

In most animals, ingestion of a diet lacking an essential amino acid (EAA) gives rise to anorexia within a few hours. The first signal in this feeding response may be the fall in plasma levels of the limiting EAA. In the present study, we measured plasma amino acid levels and food intake after the first exposure to either a threonine-devoid (THR-DEV) or corrected (COR) diet in 16 rats bearing a chronic jugular catheter for blood sampling. Food intake was reduced 165 min (p<0.05) after presentation of the THR-DEV diet. Analysis of the feeding pattern showed that intake was reduced via a four-fold lengthening of the second inter-meal interval. Plasma threonine levels started to fall between 30 and 60 min after onset of the meal (p<0.05). These results, observed in the same rats, lend further support for an early modification of the plasma amino acid pattern in relation to the decrease in feeding of a diet that is EAA deficient., (Copyright 1999 Academic Press.)

Food intake decreases and a conditioned taste aversion is induced when rats are fed a diet that is devoid of an indispensable amino acid. The purpose of this study was to characterize the meal patterns associated with (1) the onset of anorexia after the initial recognition of a threonine deficiency and (2) after the development of the conditioned taste aversion to this deficient diet. When rats ate the threonine-devoid diet for the first time, meal patterns were characterized by an increase in intermeal interval (IMI) between 3 and 6 h after food presentation, which was followed by a decrease in meal size and ingestion rate, between 6 and 12 h. Meal patterns on days 2 and 10 were associated with expression of the taste aversion, characterized by meals of smaller size, longer duration and by a reduction in ingestion rate, without variations in either IMI or meal frequency. Meals of the threonine-deficient group were composed of more frequent bouts, smaller size and shorter duration, with large within-meal pauses, which accounted for the reduced ingestion rate. This study presents the first analysis in terms of feeding patterns and meal microstructure of a conditioned taste aversion induced by a food rather than a toxin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]