Dietary Protein From Different Sources Exerted a Great Impact on Lipid Metabolism and Mitochondrial Oxidative Phosphorylation in Rat Liver

Abstract

Associations between meat diets and human health have been widely considered. In this study, we focused on long-term effects of different sources of meat protein on liver metabolic enzymes. For 90 days, rats were fed with semisynthetic diets that differed only with protein source. Casein was used as a reference and isolated soybean, fish, chicken, pork, and beef proteins were compared. Changes in liver proteome were determined by isobaric tag for relative and absolute quantitation (iTRAQ) labeling and liquid chromatography electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry/mass spectrometry (LC–ESI–MS/MS). Fish and pork protein diets upregulated the gene expression involved in cholesterol synthesis and esterification, and pork protein diet also upregulated the gene expression of high-density lipoprotein receptor and low-density lipoprotein receptor. Chicken, pork, and beef protein diets upregulated the gene expression involved in cholesterol reverse transport and bile acid production, which increased the total cholesterol level in the fish protein diet group. Total cholesterol levels in liver were lower in the pork and beef protein diet groups. Triglyceride levels in liver were lower in chicken, pork, and beef protein diet groups. Peroxisomal proliferator-activated receptor-gamma coactivator-1 was upregulated by chicken, pork and beef protein diets, and promoted the degradation and metabolism of triglyceride, resulting in lower triglyceride in the three diet groups. Meat proteins at a recommended level could be more conducive to cholesterol degradation, triglyceride decomposition, and energy balance maintenance at a healthy level. The findings give a new insight into the associations between meat diet intake and human health.