Table 2. Plasma amino acid concentrations of the rats fed casein, soy or meat protein diets.

Values are shown as means ± SD. (n = 6)¹, blood of four rats in soy group was collected but yielded insufficient plasma to allow analyses. Different superscripts indicate the statistical significance at P < 0.05 analyzed by one-way ANOVA and LSD multiple test. Total²: the sum of 17 kinds of amino acids in plasma including Arg, Pro, Met, Val, Ser, Gly, Lys, Thr, Phe, Asp, Ile, Leu, Cys, Glu, Ala, Tyr, His. EAA³: the sum of 9 kinds of essential amino acids in plasma including Arg, Met, Val, Lys, Thr, Phe, Ile, Leu, His. NEAA²: the sum of 8 kinds of non-essential amino acids in plasma including Pro, Ser, Gly, Asp, Cys, Glu, Ala, Tyr.