Table 1. Protein intake, body weight variation, blood cell count, and concentrations of plasma protein, albumin, and pre-albumin of control and malnourished mice.
| Groups | Control (n = 12) | Malnourished (n = 12) |
| Diet consumption (g/day/animal) | 6.14±0.78 | 6.04±0.70 |
| Protein consumption (g/day/animal) | 0.73±0.09 | 0.12±0.01*** |
| Body weight variation (%) | 6.33±1.3 | −17.7±1.3* |
| Plasma protein (g/dL) | 6.7±0.44 | 4.0±0.61* |
| Albumin (g/dL) | 3.2±0.61 | 2.1±0.44* |
| Pre-albumin (mg/dL) | 10.9±1.9 | 2.97±1.1* |
| Erythrocytes (x 106/mm3) | 8.77±0.29 | 6.99±0.37* |
| Hemoglobin (g/dL) | 14.9±0.33 | 11.9±0.47* |
| Hematocrit (%) | 44.5±0.77 | 36.9±0.99* |
| Leukocytes (/mm3) | 2790±490 | 1008±189* |
| Neutrophils (/mm3) | 189±2.7 | 33.7±1.9* |
| Eosinophils (/mm3) | 9.9±0.11 | 1.4±0.03* |
| Lymphocytes (/mm3) | 2425±238 | 974±111* |
| Monocytes (/mm3) | 59±6.1 | 18.1±1.9* |
The results, expressed as the means with standard deviations, are presented for protein consumption, change in body weight, serum protein, albumin, and pre-albumin concentrations, number of erythrocytes, hemoglobin concentration, hematocrit, number of reticulocytes, and total number of leukocytes, neutrophils, lymphocytes, and monocytes of control and malnourished animals. The number in parentheses denotes the total number of animals used in the experiment.
*
(p ≤ 0.05) and ***(p ≤ 0.001) indicates where there was a significant difference between the control group and the malnourished group.