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Moderate adiposity levels counteract protein metabolism modifications associated with aging in rats

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Abstract

Purpose

Physiological parameters such as adiposity and age are likely to influence protein digestion and utilization. The aim of this study was to evaluate the combined effects of age and adiposity on casein protein and amino acid true digestibility and its postprandial utilization in rats.

Methods

Four groups were included (n = 7/8): 2 months/normal adiposity, 2 months/high adiposity, 11 months/normal adiposity and 11 months/high adiposity. Rats were given a calibrated meal containing 15N-labeled casein (Ingredia, Arras, France) and were euthanized 6 h later. Digestive contents were collected to assess protein and amino acid digestibilities. 15N enrichments were measured in plasma and urine to determine total body deamination. Fractional protein synthesis rate (FSR) was determined in different organs using a flooding dose of 13C valine.

Results

Nitrogen and amino acid true digestibility of casein was around 95–96% depending on the group and was increased by 1% in high adiposity rats (P = 0.04). Higher adiposity levels counteracted the increase in total body deamination (P = 0.03) that was associated with older age. Significant effects of age (P = 0.006) and adiposity (P = 0.002) were observed in the muscle FSR, with age decreasing it and adiposity increasing it.

Conclusion

This study revealed that a higher level of adiposity resulted in a slight increase in protein and individual amino acid true digestibility values and seemed to compensate for the metabolic postprandial protein alterations observed at older age.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Antoine Verloin from GAEC des 3 chênes for labeling the cow milk and Aziz Smira for contributing to sample analysis.

Funding

This project was funded by Ingredia.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Université Paris-Saclay, AgroParisTech, INRAE, UMR PNCA, 75005, Paris, France

    Nathalie Atallah, Claire Gaudichon, Dalila Azzout-Marniche, Nadezda Khodorova, Catherine Chaumontet, Julien Piedcoq, Martin Chapelais & Juliane Calvez

  2. Ingredia S.A., 62033, Arras Cedex, France

    Nathalie Atallah, Audrey Boulier & Alain Baniel

  3. UMR Transfrontalière BioEcoAgro N°1158, University Lille, INRAE, University Liège, UPJV, YNCREA, University Artois, University Littoral Côte d’Opale, ICV - Institut Charles Viollette, 59000, Lille, France

    Nathalie Atallah

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Contributions

The authors’ responsibilities were as follows: CG, JC, ABa and ABo contributed to the conception and design of the study; NA, JC conducted the research; NA, JC, NK, CC, JP, and MC contributed to data acquisition; NA and JC analyzed the data; NA wrote the original draft of the paper; JC, CG, DAM, ABa, and ABo reviewed and edited the manuscript; CG administered the project; and all authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Juliane Calvez.

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Conflict of interest

C.G., D.A.M., N.K., C.C., J.P., M.C. and J.C. declare that they have no conflict of interest. N.A., A.Ba., and A.Bo. are employed by Ingredia.

Ethics approval

All procedures involving animals were in compliance with the European Union directive 2010/63/EU for animal experiments and approved by the ethics committee in animal experiments of INRAE Jouy-en-Josas (Comethea, registration number: 18-14) and the French Ministry of Higher Education and Research (APAFIS no 15907-2018061823133762 v1).

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Atallah, N., Gaudichon, C., Boulier, A. et al. Moderate adiposity levels counteract protein metabolism modifications associated with aging in rats. Eur J Nutr 61, 3189–3200 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00394-022-02881-4

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