Experimental Protein-Calorie Malnutrition

Abstract

Rats fed a diet containing 5% mixed protein developed clinical, biochemical, and histological disorders similar to those seen in children suffering from kwashiorkor. Growth was markedly decreased, edema occurred in most animals, and they developed significant hypoalbuminemia, a plasma amino acid profile similar to that seen in kwashiorkor, and histological evidence of periportal fatty infiltration in the liver.