College of Animal Science and Technology, Northeast Agricultural University, Harbin 150030, People's Republic of China.
College of Life Science, Northeast Agricultural University, Harbin 150030, People's Republic of China.
Ecotoxicol Environ Saf. 2021 Jul 1;217:112203. doi: 10.1016/j.ecoenv.2021.112203. Epub 2021 Apr 17.
Ammonia (NH) is a major gaseous pollutant in livestock production and has adverse effects on production, health and welfare of animals. The liver is one of the target organs of NH, and excessive NH inhalation can induce liver damage. However, the toxicity assessment of NH on pig liver and its mechanism have not been reported yet. Recently, transcriptome analysis has become a major method to study the toxic mechanism of pollutants in environmental toxicology. Therefore, in the present study, we examined the effects of excessive NH inhalation on the liver of fattening pig through chemical analysis, ELISA, transcriptome analysis and real-time quantitative PCR (qRT-PCR). Our results showed that the transcriptome analysis database of fattening pig liver under excessive NH exposure, and 449 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) (including 181 up-regulated DEGs and 168 down-regulated DEGs) were found. Some genes associated with the 3 Gene Ontology (GO) terms (liver function, immune, antioxidant defense) were validated by quantitative real-time PCR. In addition, the activities of GPT and GOT in NH group were significantly increased by 63.5% and 37.4% (P < 0.05), respectively. Our results indicated that NH exposure could cause changes in transcriptional profiles and liver function, and induce liver damage in fattening pigs through oxidative stress and immune dysfunction. Our study results not only provide a new perspective for the toxicity assessment of NH, but also enrich the toxicological mechanism of NH.
氨（NH）是畜牧业中主要的气态污染物，对动物的生产、健康和福利有不良影响。肝脏是 NH 的靶器官之一，过量的 NH 吸入会导致肝脏损伤。然而，NH 对猪肝脏的毒性评估及其机制尚未有报道。最近，转录组分析已成为环境毒理学中研究污染物毒性机制的主要方法。因此，在本研究中，我们通过化学分析、ELISA、转录组分析和实时定量 PCR（qRT-PCR）研究了过量 NH 吸入对育肥猪肝脏的影响。结果表明，我们构建了育肥猪肝脏在过量 NH 暴露下的转录组分析数据库，发现了 449 个差异表达基因（DEGs）（包括 181 个上调 DEGs 和 168 个下调 DEGs）。通过定量实时 PCR 验证了与 3 个基因本体（GO）术语（肝脏功能、免疫、抗氧化防御）相关的一些基因。此外，NH 组中 GPT 和 GOT 的活性分别显著增加了 63.5%和 37.4%（P<0.05）。结果表明，NH 暴露可引起转录谱和肝功能的变化，并通过氧化应激和免疫功能障碍诱导育肥猪肝脏损伤。我们的研究结果不仅为 NH 的毒性评估提供了新的视角，也丰富了 NH 的毒理学机制。
