Impacts of acute imipramine treatment on plasma and brain amino acid metabolism in mice given graded levels of dietary chicken protein

ABSTRACT Several studies have shown a relationship between depression and animal protein intake. To evaluate whether the difference of dietary chicken protein levels induces an antidepressant‐like effect and potentiates acute antidepressant effects, three levels of dietary chicken protein were used as the representative animal protein with imipramine used as the antidepressant. In addition, the effects of dietary chicken protein on brain metabolism were evaluated. Open field test (OFT) and forced swimming test (FST) were conducted on the 27th and 28th days, respectively. OFT and FST were not influenced by both imipramine and dietary protein levels. However, characteristic effects of imipramine treatment on brain monoamine metabolism were observed in the cerebral cortex and hypothalamus. In addition, dietary protein significantly increased taurine and L‐ornithine levels even though these amino acids were not contained in the diets. In conclusion, the metabolism of several amino acids in the plasma and brain were altered by dietary chicken protein.