INSULIN HYPERPHAGIA IN RATS FED A LOW-PROTEIN DIET

Abstract

This investigation was undertaken to ascertain if daily treatment with insulin, known to increase lipogenesis, fat deposition, and food intake on a normal diet, could overcome or prevent, the hypophagia of rats fed a low-protein (5% casein) diet. Male Wistar rats on 20 or 5% casein diets were injected subcutaneously daily for 25 days with 2 units/100 g body weight of protamine zinc insulin (PZI) or saline. PZI increased the food intake and weight gain on both diets but not linear growth. It increased body fat markedly and protein slightly on the low-protein diet and body fat only on the normal diet. In a second similar experiment, in which treatment was continued for 17 days, PZI caused no change in resting oxygen consumption from that of the controls on either diet but did prevent the increase in running activity that rats on a low-protein diet show. In both experiments, although the insulin-treated rats on low-protein diet ate as many calories as the saline-treated controls on the normal diet, they gained significantly less weight. This paradox remains unexplained.The rebound increase in blood sugar following injection of PZI was relatively much faster in the low-protein animals. This was associated with a more immediate and greater food intake suggesting a "meal-eating" pattern of food intake in these animals which may have also enhanced lipogenesis.