title: The correlation between feed-intake cycle and nutritional zinc-deficient status in rats.
abstract: The characteristic cyclic variation in feed intake of rats fed a Zn-deficient diet (Mills et al, Am J Clin Nutr 22: 1240-1249 (1969)) followed a Cosinor curve, as determined by computer analysis (Tamaki et al, Br J Nutr 73: 711-722 (1995)). The values of amplitude for the feed-intake cycle had a positive correlation to their own day-to-day variations and to the correlation value of their own simulated cycles (r2 = 0.764, df = 50, p < 0.001 and r2 = 0.682, df = 50, p < 0.001, respectively). The cyclic variation in feed intake was accompanied by a cyclic variation in body-weight change in rats fed the Zn-deficient diet, and cyclic variation in body-weight change occurred similarly in pair-fed control rats. There were no differences in the mesors of body-weight change cycles of Zn-deficient rats and pair-fed control rats (Zn-deficient rats: 2.5 +/- 1.0 g/d, pair-fed rats: 2.8 +/- 1.0 g/d, mean +/- SD, df = 18, t = -0.674, ND). Rats fed the Zn-deficient diet were given different amounts of Zn supplementation by daily subcutaneous injection. The amplitude of the feed-intake cycle was decreased with increasing Zn supplementation (r2 = 0.919, df = 5, p < 0.001). The concentration of Zn for the appearance of the feed-intake cycle was estimated to be 71.6 +/- 6.6 micrograms/d per rat. The Zn level in the serum showed a significant decrease in the Zn-deficient diet groups, but the supplement of Zn did not vary in the Zn-deficient rats injected with up to 47.3 micrograms/d per rat. From these results, an analysis of the feed-intake cycle allowed us to estimate the quantitative Zn-deficient status of rats.
authors.affiliation: Graduate School of Food and Medical Sciences, Kobe-Gakuin University, Japan.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Yamasaki
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kaneko
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Matsuda
authors.forename: S F
authors.initials: SF
authors.lastname: Sakata
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Tamaki
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001835:Body Weight; D004032:Diet; D004435:Eating; D008297:Male; D010507:Periodicity; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D015032:Zinc / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000097:blood / Q000172:deficiency*
chemical_list: D015032:Zinc