Agricultural Biotechnology Journal

Agricultural Biotechnology Journal

Gross morphological and physiological evaluation of hepatic alterations induced by whey protein supplementation in healthy adult male albino rats

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors
Zaid Ali Zaidan
Ekhlas Abid Hamza Al-Alwany
Department of Anatomy and Histology, College of Veterinary Medicine, Al-Qasim Green University, Babylon 51013, Iraq
10.22103/jab.2026.27258.1920
Abstract
Objective
The liver is a highly complex visceral organ that provides integrated metabolic, digestive, detoxifying, endocrine regulatory and immune functions and thus, is indispensable for the maintenance of homeostasis in the whole body. This study evaluated the impact of nutritional whey protein supplementation on liver-related morphophysiological alterations in healthy adult male albino rats.
Materials and methods
Thirty-six rats were randomly allocated into three equal groups: a control group, a low-dose whey protein group (5 g/kg body weight), and a high-dose whey protein group (10 g/kg body weight), with oral supplementation continued for six weeks. At the end of the experiment, body weight, liver weight, liver to body weight ratio, and selected serum biochemical markers, including alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), superoxide dismutase (SOD), malondialdehyde (MDA), and triglycerides (TG), were evaluated. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis was also performed to assess the discriminatory value of the investigated markers.
Results
The results demonstrated significant reductions in final body weight and liver weight in both whey protein-treated groups compared with the control group, whereas the liver to body weight ratio showed a declining trend without reaching statistical significance. Biochemically, ALT and AST showed mild elevations that were not statistically significant. In contrast, SOD, MDA, and TG were significantly increased in the treated groups, indicating enhanced oxidative stress, lipid peroxidation, and disturbed lipid handling. ROC analysis further revealed limited diagnostic utility for ALT and AST, whereas SOD, MDA, and TG showed strong discriminatory performance, with MDA exhibiting the highest overall predictive accuracy. Collectively, these findings indicate that whey protein supplementation at the tested doses in healthy rats induced a measurable hepatic metabolic and oxidative burden rather than clear enzyme-defined hepatocellular injury.
Conclusions
The study suggests that oxidative and lipid-related biomarkers may provide greater sensitivity than conventional transaminases for detecting early liver-related responses to excessive protein supplementation.
Keywords
albino rats
biomarkers
liver
oxidative stress
whey protein supplementation
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Agricultural Biotechnology Journal
Volume 18, Issue 4
Summer 2026
Pages 391-410