Expression profile of adiponectin and adiponectin receptors in high-fat diet feeding chickens

Adiponectin is a circulatory cytokine secreted from adipose tissues and exerts critical metabolic functions in mammals. However, expression profiles of adiponectin and adiponectin receptors in the avian species that may be very different from mammals, especially under affluent nutrition conditions, remain unexplored to examine the effects of adiponectin and adiponectin receptors in chicken adipose tissues under high-fat diet (HFD) feeding. Twenty Taiwan country chickens (L2 bred) of 12 weeks old were challenged with a 10% high-fat diet for 6 weeks. Results showed that body weights and plasma triglycerides, cholesterol and dipeptidyl peptidase-4 (DPP4) were all increased in the HFD treatments. Interestingly, we first demonstrated that chicken circulating macromolecule adiponectin and fat disulphide-bond A oxidoreductase-like protein (DsbA-L), a regulator involved in adiponectin secretion, were elevated upon HFD feeding. Moreover, the mRNA expression of adiponectin and adiponectin receptors as well as additional adipose-related genes such as fatty acid synthase (FAS), adipose triglyceride lipase (ATGL), lipoprotein lipase (LPL), and peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ (PPARγ) were also increased in the chicken abdominal fats under HFD conditions. These results suggest that HFD treatment alters adiponectin and metabolic genes in chicken adipose tissues. In conclusion, in the present study, we examine expression profiles of adiponectin, adiponectin receptors, adiponectin secretion regulator DsbA-L, and metabolic genes in chicken fats upon HFD supplementation and provide new insights for how adiponectin entail the pathophysiologically obesogenic conditions in the avian species.