Whole body and tissue protein turnovers were measured in 6 newborn lambs taken from their mothers immediately after birth. Three lambs (AJ) were hourly fed 50 ml of saline (NaCl 0.9%), and 3 (AL) were fed, on the same schedule, 50 ml of saline with 2.25 g of lactose added. They were continuously infused L-[4,5(3)H]-leucine for 6 h when they were 2 h 30 min old. Plasma glucose and insulin were higher in AL than in AJ lambs. On the contrary, the lowest plasma levels of free threonine, valine, isoleucine, leucine, phenylalanine, lysine, histidine, serine and alanine occurred in the lactose-fed lambs (table 1). The concentrations of most free amino acids in liver, brain, small intestine and muscle (Longissimus dorsi) were not significantly different (fig. 1). The irreversible loss of plasma leucine did not differ (mean +/- SD : 160 +/- 47 and 156 +/- 11 micro moles/h/kg for AL and AJ lambs, respectively). The leucine catabolic rate was higher in AJ than in AL lambs (22.4 +/- 2.8 vs 17.9 +/- 1.7%). The fractional rates of protein synthesis in the liver, small intestine and brain were not significantly different between AL and AJ lambs; these rates were higher in the muscle, lungs and whole body of the AL lambs (table 2).