[Protein synthesis in the liver and cerebellum of rats growing at different rates of intensity].

Newborn rats were grown in litters of 8 (control), 4, or 16 individuals up to the day 21 of postnatal development and then transferred to usual keeping and feeding conditions similar for all groups. Liver and cerebellum were removed for the study at days 18, 45, and 90. At day 28, the body weight of animals from experimental groups differed by approximately three-fold, weight of liver, almost five-fold, and weight of the cerebellum, by 1.4 times. The body weight of animals also showed significant differences at day 90, however, the weight of the liver and cerebellum differed from the control only in animals that received excessive feeding. We demonstrate that in the control and in experimental rats, the intensity of the protein synthesis during the period from day 18 to day 90 shows similar changes, and it is always higher in the liver as compared with the cerebellum. Differences between fasting animals and animals given excess food generally were apparent mainly at day 90. Thus, feeding disturbances during the first weeks after birth result in uncompensated changes of animal growth and of the studied animal organs. These data are discussed in connection with perspectives of using this model to study specific aspects of three-dimensional organization of the nucleolar complex of hepatocytes and cerebellar neurons.