Effect of dietary lysine on muscle protein turnover in growing chickens

Day-old male chickens were fed ad libitum isoenergetic diets containing 20% crude protein but differing in their lysine content (from 6.5 up to 11.3 g/kg). At 3 weeks of age, protein fractional synthesis rates in the pectoralis major muscle were determined using a large dose injection of 120 mumol per kg body weight of L-[4-3H] phenylalanine. Protein gain in the pectoralis major was measured between 19 and 23 days of age. Protein breakdown was obtained by calculating the difference between protein synthesis and deposition. Weight gain varied curvilinearly with dietary lysine intake and was maximum for 11.3 g lysine/kg of diet. In birds fed an adequate lysine intake (10.1-11.3 g/kg) protein fractional synthesis and breakdown rates were 23.6-25.9 and 17.8-19.8%/d respectively. Increasing lysine supplementation in the diet resulted in an impairment of protein fractional breakdown rates. By contrast, protein fractional synthesis rates remained unchanged owing mainly to an improvement in the synthesis efficiency (kRNA), until birds were fed an adequate lysine intake. These data suggest that the growth rate reduction of chickens fed lysine deficient diets was due to alterations in both rates of protein synthesis and breakdown in skeletal muscle. A maximum protein deposition is achieved when kRNA was optimal, ie for a dietary lysine content of about 9 g/kg, a value close to the requirement.