Intestinal metabolism of dietary essential amino acids and its potential impact on their availability for whole-body growth has been the focus of many investigators' research over several decades. One of the major questions was concerned with the discrepancy between the disappearance of dietary essential amino acids from the small intestinal lumen and appearance in the portal circulation despit...

INTRODUCTION Celiac disease (CD) is associated with an increased risk of major depressive disorder, possibly due to deficiencies in micronutrients in the gluten-free diet. We aimed to investigate whether essential amino acids (i.e., the precursors of serotonin, dopamine and other neurotransmitters) are depleted in the diet and serum of CD patients with major depressive disorder. METHODS In a ...

Four mature rumen and abomasal cannulated wethers were used in a 2 x 2 reversal experiment to study the effect of forage quality on daily quantity of abomasal protein and microbial protein synthesis. Diets were either high quality [HOo 16.4% crude protein (CP)] or low quality (LOo 9.3% CP) Coastal bermudagrass which provided 110.7 and 58.3 g CP intake daily, respectively. Non-ammonia CP reachin...

The allocation of nutritional resources to reproduction in animals is a complex process of great evolutionary significance. We use compound-specific stable isotope analysis of carbon (GC/combustion/isotope ratio MS) to investigate the dietary sources of egg amino acids in a nectar-feeding hawkmoth. Previous work suggests that the nutrients used in egg manufacture fall into two classes: those th...