Sex, body composition and regulation of food intake during growth in the Zucker rat

Abstract

1. Food intake and rates of protein, lipid and energy deposition during growth were measured for lean and congenitally obese (fatty) Zucker rats offered from 34 d of age to slaughter at 66 d of age, one of six semi-synthetic diets containing casein (C) in the following amounts (g C/kg): 40C, 100C, 150C, 300C, 500C and 700C.2. In Expt 1, groups of four male rats were offered each diet to appetite. The digestibility of dietary protein and metabolizability of dietary energy were determined. Total carcasses were analysed for protein, energy and lipid at 34 and 66 d of age. The results showed that, given diets containing 300C or above, both fatty and lean males regulate food intake so as to sustain a maximal rate of protein deposition. This maximal rate was greater in males than in females, and the sex difference was more marked in lean rats. Diets containing less than 300C did not permit maximal protein deposition and, in this instance, both sexes and phenotypes showed a similar reduction in food intake and protein deposition. The rate of deposition of body lipid did not appear to be controlled in either phenotype.3. In Expt 2, fatty and lean rats were pair-fed diets 100C and 500C. Carcass composition at 66 d of age confirmed that obesity in the fatty rat was not due to hyperphagia but to an abnormal pattern of energy utilization between fat deposition (too much), and protein deposition and heat production (too little).4. In Expt 3, fatty and lean, male and female rats were given diets 100C and 500C to slaughter at 66 d of age. The carcasses were analysed into different parts by weight, and according to protein and lipid contents of viscera, pelt and subcutaneous fat, and empty carcass. Fatty rats stored approximately 0.53 of their protein in the empty carcass, lean rats approximately 0.65.5. The results confirm that food intake in the Zucker rat is intimately related to the capacity of the animals for protein deposition, but this capacity differs between sexes and between phenotypes, and the distribution of body protein in the fatty rat eatingad lib.is not that of a normal rat.