Effects of the amount and quality of dietary protein on nitrogen metabolism and protein turnover of pigs.

1. The interrelation between protein accretion and whole-body protein turnover were studied by varying the quantity and quality of protein given to growing pigs. 2. Diets with 150 or 290 g lysine-deficient protein/kg were given in hourly meals, with or without lysine supplementation, to female pigs (mean weight 47 kg). 3. After the animals were adapted to the diets, a constant infusion of [14C]urea was given intra-arterially for 30 h, during the last 6 h of which an infusion of [4,5-3H]leucine was also infused at a constant rate. At the same time, yeast-protein labelled with 15N was given in the diet for 50 h. 4. The rate of urea synthesis was estimated from the specific radioactivity (SR) of plasma urea. The rate of leucine flux was estimated from the SR of plasma leucine. The irrevocable breakdown of leucine was estimated from the 3H-labelling of body water. Total N flux was estimated from the 15N-labelling of urinary urea. 5. Addition of lysine to the low-protein diet significantly increased N retention, with a substantial reduction in leucine breakdown, but there was no significant change in the flux of leucine or of total N. 6. Increasing the quantity of the unsupplemented protein also increased N retention significantly, with concomitant increases in leucine breakdown and in the fluxes of leucine and of total N. 7. It is concluded that a doubling of protein accretion brought about by the improvement of dietary protein quality is not necessarily associated with an increased rate of whole-body protein turnover.