Effect of dietary protein manipulation on translocation of protein kinase C activity in various tissues of rats.

Ingestion of protein deficient diet is known to decrease the enzyme load, particularly drug metabolising enzymes in liver. It also leads to decrease in polyphosphoinositide pool in brain and kidney. Therefore, changes in protein kinase C activity and its translocation were speculated and studied in brain, lung, heart, spleen, liver and kidney of rats maintained on three different diets, viz. casein (20% protein) deficient (4% protein, rice flour as protein source) and supplemented (deficient diet supplemented with L-lysine and DL-threonine), for 28 days. A significant alteration in total protein kinase C activity and/or its translocation was observed in these tissues in the deficient group in comparison to casein group. Supplementation of diet with L-lysine and DL-threonine could partially reverse the affect. These changes in protein kinase C activity and its translocation indicate alteration in the mechanism of signalling system in dietary protein deficiency and hence an altered response of tissues to the external stimuli in dietary protein deficiency.