Shikano Kenshiro, Taniuchi Shusuke, Iwakoshi-Ukena Eiko, Furumitsu Megumi, Bentley George E, Kriegsfeld Lance J, Ukena Kazuyoshi
Section of Behavioral Sciences, Graduate School of Integrated Arts and Sciences, Hiroshima University, Higashi-Hiroshima 739-8521, Japan.
Section of Behavioral Sciences, Graduate School of Integrated Arts and Sciences, Hiroshima University, Higashi-Hiroshima 739-8521, Japan; Department of Integrative Biology and The Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute, University of California at Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720-3140, USA.
Gen Comp Endocrinol. 2018 Sep 1;265:71-76. doi: 10.1016/j.ygcen.2017.11.010. Epub 2017 Nov 16.
Recently we discovered a small hypothalamic protein in the chicken, named neurosecretory protein GL (NPGL), which is associated with body growth and energy metabolism in birds and rodents. Genome database analysis suggested that the NPGL gene has a paralogous gene in vertebrates, named neurosecretory protein GM (NPGM). However, the biological action of NPGM remains unclear. In this study, we investigated whether NPGM affects body growth in chicks. We found that subcutaneous infusion of NPGM for six days increased body mass gain in a dose-dependent manner. Despite the observed increase in body mass, infusion of NPGM did not alter food and water intake. Of note, we observed tendency of mass increase of several peripheral tissues, specifically. When we compared several tissue types, NPGM seemed to induce the largest growth increase in white adipose tissue mass. These results suggest that NPGM may accelerate fat accumulation and body growth. In addition, we analyzed whether NPGM increases body growth through the action of pituitary hormones. However, we observed no significant changes in mRNA expression of pituitary hormones or plasma levels of growth hormone in NPGM-treated chicks. This is the first report describing the biological action of NPGM in vertebrates.
最近，我们在鸡体内发现了一种小型下丘脑蛋白，命名为神经分泌蛋白GL（NPGL），它与鸟类和啮齿动物的身体生长及能量代谢有关。基因组数据库分析表明，NPGL基因在脊椎动物中有一个同源基因，名为神经分泌蛋白GM（NPGM）。然而，NPGM的生物学作用仍不清楚。在本研究中，我们调查了NPGM是否影响雏鸡的身体生长。我们发现，皮下注射NPGM六天以剂量依赖的方式增加了体重增加。尽管观察到体重增加，但注射NPGM并未改变食物和水的摄入量。值得注意的是，我们特别观察到几种外周组织有质量增加的趋势。当我们比较几种组织类型时，NPGM似乎在白色脂肪组织质量上诱导了最大的生长增加。这些结果表明，NPGM可能加速脂肪积累和身体生长。此外，我们分析了NPGM是否通过垂体激素的作用增加身体生长。然而，我们在接受NPGM治疗的雏鸡中未观察到垂体激素mRNA表达或生长激素血浆水平的显著变化。这是第一篇描述NPGM在脊椎动物中生物学作用的报告。
