HEPATIC PLASMA-MEMBRANE FLUIDITY AND DIETARY PROTEINS

Effect of protein deficient diet on hepatic plasma membrane fluidity has been studied in rats using (i) steady state fluorescence polarization and anisotropy, (ii) phospholipid and cholesterol contents, (iii) phospholipid fatty acid composition, (iv) turnover of phosphatidyl choline (PC), and (v) activities of membrane-bound enzymes as parameters and rats fed casein (20%) diet as standard group. A significant increase in steady state fluorescence and anisotropy values was registered in the deficient group, indicating increased resistance and hence decrease in fluidity of the plasma membrane. Supplementation of the diet with lysine and threonine improved these values, thereby suggesting the significance of diet for membrane fluidity. Simultaneous significant alterations in other parameters, viz. (i) decrease in PC, PE and free cholesterol and increase in esterified cholesterol contents, (ii) decrease in unsaturation of fatty acids of PC, (iii) decrease in incorporation of NaH2 (PO4)-P-32, [CH3 - C-14]choline and [CH3 - C-14]methionine into plasma membrane PC, and (iv) decrease in activities of plasma membrane 5'-nucleotidase and phosphodiesterase along with increase of (Na+ -K+)ATPase and adenyl cyclase, were observed in the deficient group which on supplementation with lysine and threonine showed improvement over alterations.