Identification and characterization of the adipogenesis in intramuscular and subcutaneous adipocytes of the goose (Anser cygnoides)

Abstract

Chinese geese are domesticated from wild swan (Anser cygnoides), which have maintained a strong capacity of fat deposit. Fat mainly distributes subcutaneous, abdominal, intermuscular or intramuscular in poultry, and they display some special physiological and biochemical characteristics in different parts. This study aimed to characterize the adipogenesis in intramuscular (IM) and subcutaneous (SC) adipocytes of the goose. Here, IM and SC preadipocytes were isolated from the 26-day-old Yangzhou goose embryos, and subsequently induced them to differentiate into mature adipocytes. The results showed that SC preadipocytes grew a little faster than IM preadipocytes during the logarithmic multiplication phase (p < 0.05). Meanwhile, SC adipocytes accumulated more lipid than IM adipocytes during the differentiation process in vitro (p < 0.01). In addition, the expression level of key genes involved in adipogenesis, including peroxisome proliferator activated receptor γ/α (PPARγ/α), CCAAT/enhancer binding protein-α/β (C/EBPα/β), adipocyte fatty acid binding protein 4 (FABP4), and lipoprotein lipase (LPL) were detected. PPARγ, C/EBPα, FABP4, and LPL, were predominantly expressed in SC adipocytes, whereas C/EBPβ was highly expressed in IM adipocytes. Taken together, these results demonstrated that SC preadipocytes tended to grow faster and accumulate more lipid than IM adipocytes, and show greater potential for adipogenesis.