Comparison of adipose tissue cellularity in chicken lines divergently selected for fatness

Abstract

After 13 generations of divergent selection for abdominal fatness, 2 chicken lines (a fat line and a lean line) have been established. To clarify the cellular mechanism underlying the differences in fatness between the fat and lean lines, cellularity characteristics of the abdominal adipose tissues were analyzed during the first 7 wk of age by electron microscopy, proliferating cell nuclear antigen staining, and DNA content measurement. The abdominal fat percentage at 7 wk of age in the fat chicken line was 3.8 times that of the lean line, and was accompanied by a 1.3-fold increase in adipocyte diameter and a 2.4-fold increase in adipocyte number. The total cell number of the abdominal fat pad in the fat chicken line was 1.9 times that of the lean line at 7 wk of age. However, no significant difference was observed in the proliferation rate of stroma vascular fraction cells between the 2 chicken lines. These findings suggest that the divergently selected fat and lean chickens have different adipose tissue ontogeny.

Differentially expressed genes in the liver of lean and fat chickens

“…The birds utilized in the current study were obtained from the 14th generation population of the Northeast Agricultural University broiler lines, which were divergently selected based on abdominal fat content (Guo et al, 2011). Birds were kept in similar environmental conditions and had access to feed and water.…”

Weight estimation of empty carcass and carcass cuts weight of female SenSi-1 Agrinak chicken

“…Therefore, body live weight is a good indicator that can be used to estimate empty carcass and carcass cuts weight of native chicken, although in this experiment, low correlation was shown in abdominal fat pad, as it was also reported by Guo et al (2011) …”

Differential expression of cyclin G2, cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor 2C and peripheral myelin protein 22 genes during adipogenesis

“…Growth of adipose tissue is achieved through increases of cell size (hypertrophy) and/or cell number (hyperplasia). Although it seems that hyperplasia only occurs at early developmental stages in non-obese animals, it was also found to be triggered in the adult obese animals when the cell size and lipid content reached a certain level (Faust et al, 1978;Guo et al, 2011). The different patterns of adipose development are closely related to timely cell cycle inhibition, because proliferation of preadipocytes and immature adipocytes, which is dependent on cell cycle activity, precedes differentiation of preadipocytes into mature fat cells (FCs), which is characterized by cell cycle withdrawal (Ntambi and Kim, 2000), whereas promotion of cell proliferation can inhibit adipogenesis (Hou et al, 2013).…”