Effects of Dietary Protein of Proso Millet on Liver Injury Induced by<scp>D</scp>-galactosamine in Rats

Abstract

In this paper, we examined the effects of dietary protein from proso millet on liver injury induced by D-galactosamine or carbon tetrachloride in rats using serum enzyme activities as indices. D-galactosamine-induced elevations of serum activities of aspartate aminotransferase, alanine aminotransferase, and lactate dehydrogenase were significantly suppressed by feeding the diet containing 20% protein of proso millet for 14 days as compared with those of rats fed a 20% casein diet, but not in the case of carbon tetrachloride. The results showed that proso millet protein is effective at lower dietary protein levels than that of dietary gluten reported previously. Therefore, the findings reported here may suggest that proso millet protein is considered to be another preventive food for liver injury.