Mechanism of food rejection upon amino acid-unbalanced diet

2017 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 16K15194
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Environmental physiology(including physical medicine and nutritional physiology)
• Research Institution: Showa Pharmaceutical University
• Principal Investigator: ISHII Isao 昭和薬科大学, 薬学部, 教授 (90292953)
• Research Collaborator: KAMATA Shotaro
• Project Period (FY): 2016-04-01 – 2018-03-31
• Keywords: 摂食拒絶 / 必須アミノ酸 / 非必須アミノ酸 / 拒食症

Outline of Final Research Achievements

We investigated the physiological correlation between food rejection behavior and serum amino acid (AA) profiles upon single AA-deficient diets in mice. When fed an essential AA-deprived diet, we observed decreased serum levels of the corresponding AA followed by food rejection (although the time of onset differs among the diets). Meanwhile, when fed a non-essential AA-deprived diet, both food rejection and its preceding serum AA level change were not observed. Furthermore, when fed a non-essential cyst(e)ine-deprived diet, normal (wild-type) mice did not show food rejection as well as serum Cys level decrease; however, genetically-engineered mice deficient in Cys biosynthesis (cystathionine gamma-lyase [CSE]-knockout mice) did show those. There results suggest that food rejection upon AA deprivation from diet could occur when serum levels of any proteinogenic AA are declined.

Free Research Field

生化学、生理学、動物行動学