Differences in histomorphology and expression of key lipid regulated genes of four adipose tissues from Tibetan pigs

Chenghong Lin; Zexia Dong; Jia Song; Sutian Wang; Ying Yang; Hua Li; Zheng Feng; Yangli Pei

doi:10.7717/peerj.14556

Differences in histomorphology and expression of key lipid regulated genes of four adipose tissues from Tibetan pigs

PeerJ. 2023 Jan 9:11:e14556. doi: 10.7717/peerj.14556. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Chenghong Lin¹, Zexia Dong¹, Jia Song¹, Sutian Wang², Ying Yang¹, Hua Li¹, Zheng Feng¹, Yangli Pei¹

Affiliations

¹ Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Animal Molecular Design and Precise Breeding, Key Laboratory of Animal Molecular Design and Precise Breeding of Guangdong Higher Education Institutes, School of Life Science and Engineering, Foshan University, Foshan, China.
² State Key Laboratory of Livestock and Poultry Breeding, Guangdong Key Laboratory of Animal Breeding and Nutrition, Institute of Animal Science, Guangdong Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Guangzhou, China.

Abstract

Tibetan pigs, an indigenous pig breed in China, have high overall fat deposition and flavorful and tasty meat. They are thus good models for studying adipogenesis. Few studies have been conducted focusing on expression of lipid regulated genes in different adipose tissues of Tibetan pigs. Therefore, we compared the difference of histomorphology and expression level of lipid regulated genes through qPCR and western blot in subcutaneous fat, perirenal fat, omental adipose tissue, and inguinal fat of Tibetan pigs. Our results showed that the area of subcutaneous adipocytes in Tibetan pigs was smaller, while the other three adipose tissues (perirenal fat, greater omentum fat, inguinal fat) had cell areas of similar size. The gene expression of FABP4, FASN, FABP3, and ME1 in subcutaneous fat was significantly higher than that in perirenal fat. Furthermore, the protein expression of FABP4 was significantly lower in subcutaneous fat than in perirenal fat (p < 0.05), and the expression of FASN was higher in greater omentum fat than in subcutaneous fat (p = 0.084). The difference in adipocyte cell size and expression of lipid-regulated genes in adipose tissues from the various parts of the pig body is likely due to the different cellular lipid metabolic processes. Specially, FABP4 and FASN may be involved in the regulation of fat deposition in different adipose tissues of Tibetan pigs.

Keywords: Adipocyte; C/EBPβ; FABP; Greater omentum fat; Inguinal fat; PPARγ; Perirenal fat; Subcutaneous white adipose tissue; Tibetan pig.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Adipocytes* / metabolism
Adipose Tissue* / anatomy & histology
Animals
Lipids
Subcutaneous Fat / metabolism
Swine / genetics
Tibet

Substances

Lipids

Grants and funding

This research was funded by the Guangdong Provincial Natural Science Foundation – General Project (2021A1515011336), the Special Fund for Scientific Innovation Strategy-Construction of High-Level Academy of Agriculture Science (R2021PY-QF006, R2019YJ-YB2004), the Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Animal Molecular Design and Precise Breeding (2019B030301010), and the Key Laboratory of Animal Molecular Design and Precise Breeding of Guangdong Higher Education Institutes (2019KSYS011). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.