The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of supplementation with different sources of protein; casein, soy protein concentrate(SPC) and chickpea protein concentrate(CPC) on whole body, skeletal muscle mass and composition in male albino rats after resistance exercise training. Three groups of male albino rats were fed on basal diet contains each of one of the three above protein sources(25%) in addition to glucose (20%) all rats swam for 60min / d for 30 days. Changes in body weight and serum biochemical analyses including glucose, protein, albumin and globulin were determined at each time interval 10,20 and 30 days during the experimental period. At the end of experiment muscle mass and composition including protein and glycogen were determined.
The results showed that the highest body weight gain was found in casein group followed by SPC group then CPC group , serum biochemical parameters showed non significant changes in glucose among all groups, also non significant changes in serum protein and globulin were found in between the vegetable protein sources SPC and CPC groups which showed significant increase in both parameters compared to casein group. The highest value of the relative muscles weight was found in casein group followed by SPC group then CPC group, the same trend was found in the content of muscle protein, on the other hand, depletion of glycogen was at the highest value in SPC group followed by CPC group while casein comment at the least value. In conclusion we can say that the three protein sources can be used in production of supplemented diet for athletes to prevent deficiencies, increase physical strength and enhancing performance, casein as animal protein was effective followed by soy protein concentration then chickpea concentrate, vegetable sources of protein was more effective in depletion of glycogen in muscles than casein.