Abstract
Embryonic thermal programming has been shown to improve foie gras production in overfed mule ducks. However, the mechanisms at the origin of this programming have not yet been characterized. In this study, we investigated the effect of embryonic thermal manipulation (+1°C, 16 h/24 h from embryonic (E) day 13 to E27) on the hepatic expression of genes involved in lipid and carbohydrate metabolisms, stress, cell proliferation and thyroid hormone pathways at the end of thermal manipulation and before and after overfeeding (OF) in mule ducks. Gene expression analyses were performed by classic or high throughput real-time qPCR. First, we confirmed well-known results with strong impact of OF on the expression of genes involved in lipid and carbohydrates metabolisms. Then we observed an impact of OF on the hepatic expression of genes involved in the thyroid pathway, stress and cell proliferation. Only a small number of genes showed modulation of expression related to thermal programming at the time of OF, and only one was also impacted at the end of the thermal manipulation. For the first time, we explored the molecular mechanisms of embryonic thermal programming from the end of heat treatment to the programmed adult phenotype with optimized liver metabolism.
Highlights
The concept of early life programming appeared in humans less than 30 years ago with the observation of an association between the size of a child at birth and the risk of developing chronic pathologies in adulthood (Barker et al, 1993)
We measured a strong increase in gene expressions of HSP70 and HSP90 in the Thermal manipulation (TM) group compared to the control group
The expressions of DNAJB12 (HSP40) and HSF3 were significantly reduced in the TM group compared to the control group
Summary
The concept of early life programming appeared in humans less than 30 years ago with the observation of an association between the size of a child at birth and the risk of developing chronic pathologies in adulthood (Barker et al, 1993). Changing the incubation temperature can improve other performances, such as meat production in chicken (Piestun et al, 2013), or even foie gras production in mule duck (Massimino et al, 2019). In this last study, our team demonstrated that three different conditions of embryonic thermal programming led to an increase in lipid content in the liver of adult mule ducks after overfeeding (OF) (Massimino et al, 2019). Modification of hormonal responses, gene expression regulations or epigenetic marks have been studied in the context of increased thermoregulation (Vaiserman et al, 2018; Madkour et al, 2021), but the field concerning hepatic metabolism has been scarcely explored (Loyau et al, 2014)
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