Visfatin gene expression in chickens is sex and tissue dependent

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.