Nutritional Modulation of Leptin Messenger RNA in Broiler Chickens

Abstract

Three sets of experiments were conducted to investigate the nutritional modulation of leptin mRNA expression in chicken adipose tissue and liver. Chicken leptin expression in adipose tissue and liver decreased following 24 h starvation, and gradually increased on refeeding, attaining a level comparable to that of the pre-fasting level at 72 h post-refeeding. Expression of leptin mRNA in adipose tissue and liver in chickens fed for 7 days on a triolein-rich (18 : 1) diet was significantly higher than that in chickens fed trilinolein-rich (18 : 2) or trilinolenin-rich (18 : 3) diets. The adipose leptin expression in chickens force-fed for 12 h with trilinolenin (18 : 3) emulsion after 48 h starvation was comparable to that prior to starvation, while the expression in chickens force-fed with triolein (18 : 1) or trilinolein (18 : 2) emulsions remained low even at 12 h after refeeding. The hepatic expression of leptin was not modified by feeding triacylglycerol emulsions irrespective of the fatty acid composition. These findings suggest that chicken leptin mRNA expression, in both adipose tissue and liver, is modulated by nutritional treatments and is closely associated with changes in lipid metabolism and adipose fat accumulation.

Keywords

• leptin mrna
• dietary fat
• fast-refeeding
• fat accumulation
• broiler chickens