Leptin receptor signaling inhibits ovarian follicle development and egg laying in chicken hens

作者：Ming M Lei, Si Q Wu, Xiao W Li, Cong L Wang, Zhe Chen, Zhen D. Shi · 发表于：Reproductive Biology and Endocrinology · 年份：2014 · DOI：10.1186/1477-7827-12-25 · 被引用次数：40 · 研究领域：Regulation of Appetite and Obesity、Hypothalamic control of reproductive hormones、Adipokines, Inflammation, and Metabolic Diseases

BACKGROUND: Nutrition intake during growth strongly influences ovarian follicle development and egg laying in chicken hens, yet the underlying endocrine regulatory mechanism is still poorly understood. The relevant research progress is hindered by difficulties in detection of leptin gene and its expression in the chicken. However, a functional leptin receptor (LEPR) is present in the chicken which has been implicated to play a regulatory role in ovarian follicle development and egg laying. The present study targeted LEPR by immunizing against its extracellular domain (ECD), and examined the resultant ovarian follicle development and egg-laying rate in chicken hens. METHODS: Hens that have been immunized four times with chicken LEPR ECD were assessed for their egg laying rate and feed intake, numbers of ovarian follicles, gene expression profiles, serum lipid parameters, as well as STAT3 signaling pathway. RESULTS: Administrations of cLEPR ECD antigen resulted in marked reductions in laying rate that over time eventually recovered to the levels exhibited by the Control hens. Together with the decrease in egg laying rate, cLEPR-immunized hens also exhibited significant reductions in feed intake, plasma concentrations of glucose, triglyceride, high-density lipoprotein, and low-density lipoprotein. Parallelled by reductions in feed intake, mRNA gene expression levels of AgRP, orexin, and NPY were down regulated, but of POMC, MC4R and lepR up-regulated in Immunized hen hypothalamu...