Is the Early Increase in Leptinemia One of the Anorectic Signals Induced by an Essential Amino Acid-Deficient Diet in the Rat?

Rats start decreasing their food intake as early as 70 min after the first ingestion of a food deficient in threonine. A decrease of the limiting essential amino acid (EAA) in the plasma was proposed to be the first anorectic signal. Because many hormones regulate feeding behavior, we studied the effect of a meal (46 kJ) that was either devoid of threonine or was corrected for the deficiency, on plasma leptin, insulin and glucagon levels using a radio-immunoassay, at 0 to 180 min after the meal. One hour after ingestion of the threonine-devoid meal, a larger increase in insulinemia (22±1 vs. 15±1 μU/ml) and leptinemia (7.8±0.5 vs. 4.4±0.6 ng/ml; p<0.001) was observed than after ingestion of the corrected meal. The area under the curve of the threonine-devoid meal group was 3 and 1.34 fold larger than for the corrected meal group for insulin and leptin respectively. Glucagonemia was not different between the two groups. We propose that the rise in leptinemia, perhaps in synergy with rise in plasma insulin, might serve as one early signal to brain structures, participating in the anorectic mechanism following ingestion of an EAA-deficient diet.