Laboratory of Livestock Physiology, Immunology, and Genetics, Department of Biosystems, KU Leuven, 3001 Leuven, Belgium.
Domest Anim Endocrinol. 2010 Feb;38(2):63-74. doi: 10.1016/j.domaniend.2009.08.007. Epub 2009 Sep 23.
The present study investigated the expression of visfatin mRNA in various tissues of male and female broiler chickens. We also studied the effect of leptin, cerulenin, and food deprivation, known effectors of energy balance and insulin action, on visfatin gene expression in chickens. Using reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and Northern blot analysis, we detected chicken visfatin mRNA transcript in the kidney, hypothalamus, gizzard, liver, pancreas, proventriculus, breast and leg muscle, ovary, testis, lung, intestine, adipose tissue, and heart. Expression of the visfatin gene in various tissues of male and female chickens was determined by real-time quantitative PCR and found to be tissue and sex dependent. In both sexes, compared to other tissues, the visfatin gene is highly expressed in the muscle. Females exhibited greater (P<0.001) abundance of visfatin mRNA in adipose tissue compared to males, whereas compared to females, males showed greater (P<0.05) visfatin mRNA abundance in the kidney. Also, the regulation of visfatin gene expression by leptin, cerulenin, and food deprivation is tissue specific. Leptin decreased (P<0.05) visfatin mRNA abundance in the liver and hypothalamus, but not in muscle. In contrast, cerulenin increased (P<0.01) visfatin gene expression in the liver and in muscle, but not in the hypothalamus. Interestingly, visfatin mRNA levels increased (P<0.05) in the liver after 24-h food deprivation, but not in muscle or in the hypothalamus of genetically selected fat and lean line chickens. Our results showed that the visfatin gene is ubiquitously expressed in chickens with greater abundance in muscle, and that it is regulated in a tissue-specific manner by energy balance-related factors.
本研究调查了男性和女性肉鸡各组织中内脂素 mRNA 的表达。我们还研究了已知影响能量平衡和胰岛素作用的瘦素、杆菌肽和禁食对鸡内脂素基因表达的影响。使用反转录聚合酶链反应（RT-PCR）和 Northern blot 分析，我们在鸡的肾脏、下丘脑、肌胃、肝脏、胰腺、前胃、胸部和腿部肌肉、卵巢、睾丸、肺、肠、脂肪组织和心脏中检测到鸡内脂素 mRNA 转录本。通过实时定量 PCR 确定了雌雄鸡各组织中内脂素基因的表达情况，发现其表达具有组织和性别依赖性。在雌雄鸡中，与其他组织相比，内脂素基因在肌肉中高度表达。与雄性相比，雌性脂肪组织中内脂素 mRNA 的丰度更高（P<0.001），而与雌性相比，雄性肾脏中内脂素 mRNA 的丰度更高（P<0.05）。此外，内脂素基因表达的调节是组织特异性的。瘦素降低了（P<0.05）肝脏和下丘脑内脂素 mRNA 的丰度，但不影响肌肉。相反，杆菌肽增加了（P<0.01）肝脏和肌肉中的内脂素基因表达，但不影响下丘脑。有趣的是，禁食 24 小时后，肝脏中内脂素 mRNA 水平升高（P<0.05），但肌肉和遗传选择的肥胖和瘦体鸡的下丘脑内脂素 mRNA 水平没有升高。我们的结果表明，内脂素基因在鸡中广泛表达，肌肉中丰度较高，并且受能量平衡相关因素的组织特异性调节。
