Abstract
Rats fed a diet containing a highly purified preparation of phaseolin, the main globulin from the seeds of Phaseolus vulgaris, rapidly lost weight. Fecal nitrogen outputs were elevated and the N digestibility, based on conventional method estimation, was only 37.5%. By using immunological techniques, however, it was shown that the bulk of the nitrogen recovered in the feces was not chemically related to phaseolin. After correction for this non-phaseolin N, the true digestibility of phaseolin was estimated to be 74.3%. It is suggested that phaseolin and/or undigested fragments derived from the native molecule may, as reported for the lectins, stimulate the secretion of endogenous N, possibly mucins.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
King TP, Pusztai A, Clark EMW (1982) Kidney bean (Phaseolus vulgaris) lectin-induced lesions in rat small intestine, 3. Ultrastructural studies. J Comp Pathol 92: 357-373.
Oliveira JTA, Pusztai A, Grant G (1988) Changes in organs and tissues induced by feeding of purified Kidney bean (Phaseolus vulgaris) lectins. Nutr Res 8: 943-947.
Pusztai A, Greer F (1984) Effects of dietary legume proteins on the morphology and secretory responses to the rat small intestine. Protides Biol Fluids 32: 347-350.
Greer F, Brewer A, Pusztai A (1985) Effect of kidney bean (Phaseolus vulgaris) toxins on tissue weight and composition and some metabolic functions of rats. Br Nutr 54: 95-103.
Puzstai A, Duncan I (1971) Glycoprotein-I of Phaseolus vulgaris. Homogeneity and enzymatic properties. Biochem Biophys Acta 229: 785-794.
Pusztai A, Stewart JC (1978) Isolectins of Phaseolus vulgaris: Physicochemical studies. Biochem Biophys Acta 536: 38-49.
Harboe N, Ingild A (1973) Quantitative immunoelectrophoresis: Methods and applications. Axelsen NH, Kroll J, Week B (eds). Scand J Immunol 1: 161-164.
Palmer R, McIntoch A, Pusztai A (1973) The nutrition evaluation of kidney beans (Phaseolus vulgaris). The effect of nutritional value of seed germination and changes in trypsin inhibitor content. J Sci Food Agric 24: 937-944.
Pusztai A, Clark EMW, Grant G, King TP (1981) The toxicity of Phaseolus vulgarislectins: Nitrogen balance and immunological studies. J Sci Food Agric 32: 1037-1046.
Davidson J, Mathieson J, Boyne AW (1970) The use of automation in determining nitrogen by the Kjeldahl method, with final calculations by computer. Analyst 95: 181- 193.
Lovtrup S & Roos K (1961) Observations on the chemical determination of deoxyribonucleic acid in animal tissues. Biochem Biophys Acta 53: 1-10.
Schacterle GR, Pollack RL (1973) A simplified method for the quantitative assay of small amounts of protein in biological material. Anal Biochem 51: 654-655.
François C, Marshall RD, Neuberger A (1962) Carbohydrates in protein. 4. The determination of mannose in hen's egg albumin by radioisotope dilution. Biochem 83: 335-341.
Johnson LR, Chandler AM (1973) RNA and DNA of gastric and duodenal mucosa in antrectomized and gastrin-treated rats. Am J Physiol 224: 937-940.
Schneider WC (1957). Determinations of nucleic acids in tissues by pentose analysis. In Colowich SP, Kaplan NE (eds) Methods in enzymology, vol. 3, pp 680-684. New York: Academic Press.
Lovtrup S (1962) Chemical determination of DNA in animal tissues. Acta Biochem Polonica 9: 411-424.
Santoro LG (1988) Nutritional utilization by monogastric animals of glycoprotein-II (phaseolin), the major 7S protein from kidney beans (Phaseolus vulgaris). In vivo and in vitro degradation of glycoprotein-II by rat intestinal proteases. PhD thesis, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, UK.
Laemmli UK (1970) Cleavage of structural proteins during assembly of the head of bacteriphage T4. Nature 222: 680-685.
Weeke B. (1973). Rocket immunoelectrophoresis. In Axelsen NH, Kroll J, Weeke B (eds), A manual of quantitative immunoelectrophoresis: Methods and applications. Scand J Immunol 21: 37-46.
Pusztai A (1966) The isolation of two proteins, Glycoprotein I and a trypsin inhibitor from the seeds of kidney bean (Phaseolus vulgaris). Biochem J 101: 379-384.
Lyman RL, Lepkovsky S (1957). The effect of raw soybean meal and trypsin inhibitor diets on pancreatic enzyme secretion in the rat. J Nutr 62: 629-684.
Liener IE, Thompson RM (1980) In vitro and in vivo studies on the digestibility of the major storage protein of navy bean (Phaseolus vulgaris). Qual Plant Foods Hum Nutr 30: 13-25.
Pusztai A (1989) Biological effects of dietary lectins. In Huisman J, van der Poel TFB, Liener IE (eds), Recent advances of research in antinutritional factors in legume seeds. Wageningen, Pudoc, pp 17-29.
Pusztai A, Ewen SWB, Grant G, Peumans WP, van Damme EJM, Rubio L, Bardocz S (1990) Relationship between survival and binding of plant lectins during small intestinal passage and their effectiveness as growth factors. Digestion 46: 308-316.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Santoro, L.G., Grant, G. & Pusztai, A. Effects of short-term feeding of rats with a highly purified phaseolin preparation. Plant Foods Hum Nutr 51, 61–70 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1007993708886
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1007993708886