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Lai TH, Hwang JS, Ngo QN, Lee DK, Kim HJ, Kim DR. A comparative assessment of reference genes in mouse brown adipocyte differentiation and thermogenesis in vitro. Adipocyte 2024; 13:2330355. [PMID: 38527945 DOI: 10.1080/21623945.2024.2330355] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/15/2023] [Accepted: 03/06/2024] [Indexed: 03/27/2024] Open
Abstract
Adipogenic differentiation and thermogenesis in brown adipose tissue (BAT) undergo dynamic processes, altering phenotypes and gene expressions. Proper reference genes in gene expression analysis are crucial to mitigate experimental variances and ensure PCR efficacy. Unreliable reference genes can lead to erroneous gene expression quantification, resulting in data misinterpretation. This study focused on identifying suitable reference genes for mouse brown adipocyte research, utilizing brown adipocytes from the Ucp1-luciferase ThermoMouse model. Comparative analysis of gene expression data under adipogenesis and thermogenesis conditions was conducted, validating 13 housekeeping genes through various algorithms, including DeltaCq, BestKeeper, geNorm, Normfinder, and RefFinder. Tbp and Rer1 emerged as optimal references for Ucp1 and Pparg expression in brown adipogenesis, while Tbp and Ubc were ideal for the expression analysis of these target genes in thermogenesis. Conversely, certain conventional references, including Actb, Tubb5, and Gapdh, proved unstable as reference genes under both conditions. These findings stress the critical consideration of reference gene selection in gene expression analysis within specific biological systems to ensure accurate conclusions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Trang Huyen Lai
- Department of Biochemistry and Convergence Medical Sciences and Institute of Medical Science, Gyeongsang National University, College of Medicine, Jinju, South Korea
| | - Jin Seok Hwang
- Department of Biochemistry and Convergence Medical Sciences and Institute of Medical Science, Gyeongsang National University, College of Medicine, Jinju, South Korea
| | - Quang Nhat Ngo
- Department of Biochemistry and Convergence Medical Sciences and Institute of Medical Science, Gyeongsang National University, College of Medicine, Jinju, South Korea
| | - Dong-Kun Lee
- Department of Physiology and Convergence Medical Sciences and Institute of Medical Science, Gyeongsang National University, College of Medicine, Jinju, South Korea
| | - Hyun Joon Kim
- Department of Anatomy and Convergence Medical Sciences and Institute of Medical Science, Gyeongsang National University, College of Medicine, Jinju, South Korea
| | - Deok Ryong Kim
- Department of Biochemistry and Convergence Medical Sciences and Institute of Medical Science, Gyeongsang National University, College of Medicine, Jinju, South Korea
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Cheng X, Xiao K, Jiang W, Peng G, Chen P, Shu T, Huang H, Shi X, Yang J. Selection, identification and evaluation of optimal reference genes in Chinese sturgeon (Acipenser sinensis) under polypropylene microplastics stress. THE SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT 2024; 920:170894. [PMID: 38367736 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.170894] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/23/2023] [Revised: 02/04/2024] [Accepted: 02/09/2024] [Indexed: 02/19/2024]
Abstract
Polypropylene microplastics (PP-MPs) are emerging environmental contaminants that have the potential to cause adverse effects on aquatic organisms. Reverse transcriptase quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) is a valuable tool for assessing the gene expression profiles under PP-MPs stress. To obtain an accurate gene expression profile of tissue inflammation and apoptosis that reflects the molecular mechanisms underlying the impact of PP-MPs on Chinese sturgeon, identifying reliable reference genes is crucial for RT-qPCR analysis. In this study, we constructed an experiment model of Chinese sturgeon exposed to PP-MPs, assessed the pathological injury, metabolic profile responses and oxidative stress in liver, evaluated the reliability of 8 reliable reference genes by 4 commonly used algorithms including GeNorm, NormFinder, BeatKeeper, Delta Ct, and then analyzed the performance of inflammatory response genes in liver, spleen and kidney with the best reference gene. HE staining revealed that the cytoplasm full small vacuoles and nucleus diameter increased were occurred in the liver cell of PP-MPs in treatment groups. Additionally, oxidative and biochemical parameters were significantly changes in the liver of treatment groups. For the reference genes in PP-MPs exposure experiments, this study screening the optimal reference genes including: EF1α and GAPDH for liver and spleen, and GAPDH and RPS18 for kidney. Besides, 2 inflammatory response genes (NLRP3, TNF-α) were chosen to assess the optimal reference genes using the least stable reference gene (TUB) as a control, verified the practicality of the select reference genes in different tissues. We also found that the low concentration of PP-MPs could induce the liver tissue damage and inflammatory response in Chinese sturgeon. Our study initially evaluated the impact of short-time exposure with PP-MPs in Chinese sturgeon and provided 3 sets of validated optimal reference genes in Chinese sturgeon exposure to PP-MPs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xu Cheng
- Hubei Key Laboratory of the Three Gorges Project for Conservation of Fishes, Chinese Sturgeon Research Institute, China Three Gorges Corporation, Yichang, Hubei 443100, China; Chinese Sturgeon Research Institute, China Three Gorges Corporation, Yichang, Hubei 443100, China
| | - Kan Xiao
- Hubei Key Laboratory of the Three Gorges Project for Conservation of Fishes, Chinese Sturgeon Research Institute, China Three Gorges Corporation, Yichang, Hubei 443100, China; Chinese Sturgeon Research Institute, China Three Gorges Corporation, Yichang, Hubei 443100, China
| | - Wei Jiang
- Hubei Key Laboratory of the Three Gorges Project for Conservation of Fishes, Chinese Sturgeon Research Institute, China Three Gorges Corporation, Yichang, Hubei 443100, China; Chinese Sturgeon Research Institute, China Three Gorges Corporation, Yichang, Hubei 443100, China
| | - Guangyuan Peng
- College of Animal Science and Technology, Northwest A&F University, Yangling 712100, Shaanxi, China
| | - Pei Chen
- Hubei Key Laboratory of the Three Gorges Project for Conservation of Fishes, Chinese Sturgeon Research Institute, China Three Gorges Corporation, Yichang, Hubei 443100, China; Chinese Sturgeon Research Institute, China Three Gorges Corporation, Yichang, Hubei 443100, China
| | - Tingting Shu
- Hubei Key Laboratory of the Three Gorges Project for Conservation of Fishes, Chinese Sturgeon Research Institute, China Three Gorges Corporation, Yichang, Hubei 443100, China; Chinese Sturgeon Research Institute, China Three Gorges Corporation, Yichang, Hubei 443100, China
| | - Hongtao Huang
- Hubei Key Laboratory of the Three Gorges Project for Conservation of Fishes, Chinese Sturgeon Research Institute, China Three Gorges Corporation, Yichang, Hubei 443100, China; Chinese Sturgeon Research Institute, China Three Gorges Corporation, Yichang, Hubei 443100, China
| | - Xuetao Shi
- Hubei Key Laboratory of the Three Gorges Project for Conservation of Fishes, Chinese Sturgeon Research Institute, China Three Gorges Corporation, Yichang, Hubei 443100, China; Chinese Sturgeon Research Institute, China Three Gorges Corporation, Yichang, Hubei 443100, China
| | - Jing Yang
- Hubei Key Laboratory of the Three Gorges Project for Conservation of Fishes, Chinese Sturgeon Research Institute, China Three Gorges Corporation, Yichang, Hubei 443100, China; Chinese Sturgeon Research Institute, China Three Gorges Corporation, Yichang, Hubei 443100, China.
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Huo Y, Li X, Sun C, Pan Z, Li Q, Du X. From stability to reliability: Unveiling the un-biased reference genes in porcine ovarian granulosa cells under different conditions. Gene 2024; 897:148089. [PMID: 38123003 DOI: 10.1016/j.gene.2023.148089] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/31/2023] [Revised: 12/02/2023] [Accepted: 12/14/2023] [Indexed: 12/23/2023]
Abstract
Selection of optimal reference genes (RGs) is fundamental for functional genomics studies and gene expression analysis, which are two main approaches to identify functional genes and their expression patterns. However, no systematic study has identified the suitable RGs in porcine ovarian granulosa cells (GCs) which are essential for follicle fate and sow fertility. In this study, the expression profiles of 12 widely-used RGs (GAPDH, RPLP0, ACTB, TUBA1B, EIF3K, PPIA, ATP5F1, B2M, HPRT1, UBC, RPS3, and EEF1A1) in porcine GCs during follicular development and under different abiotic stresses were systematically investigated. Expression stability of the candidate RGs were comprehensively accessed by five statistical algorithms including ΔCt, NormFinder, BestKeeper, geNorm, and RefFinder, indicating that RPS3 and PPIA are the optimal RGs during follicular development, EEF1A1 and RPLP0 are most stable under oxidative stress and inflammation, while ATP5F1, B2M, and RPS3 have higher stability under starvation and heat stress. Notably, the most commonly used RGs (ACTB, GAPDH, and TUBA1B) exhibited low stability in GCs. Reliability of stable RGs was verified by RT-qPCR and showed that selection of the stable RGs significantly improved the detection accuracy of qPCR, which confirms once again that the stability of RGs should not be taken for granted. Our findings identified optimal RG sets in porcine GCs under different conditions, which is helpful in future studies to accurately identify the key regulators and their expression patterns during follicular development in sows.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yangan Huo
- Laboratory of Statistical Genetics and Epigenetics, College of Animal Science and Technology, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, Jiangsu 210095, China
| | - Xiaoxue Li
- Laboratory of Statistical Genetics and Epigenetics, College of Animal Science and Technology, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, Jiangsu 210095, China
| | - Chen Sun
- Laboratory of Statistical Genetics and Epigenetics, College of Animal Science and Technology, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, Jiangsu 210095, China
| | - Zengxiang Pan
- Laboratory of Statistical Genetics and Epigenetics, College of Animal Science and Technology, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, Jiangsu 210095, China
| | - Qifa Li
- Laboratory of Statistical Genetics and Epigenetics, College of Animal Science and Technology, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, Jiangsu 210095, China
| | - Xing Du
- Laboratory of Statistical Genetics and Epigenetics, College of Animal Science and Technology, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, Jiangsu 210095, China.
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Shen T, Zhang W, Wang Y, Li H, Wu J, Wang Q, Qin L, Zhang L, Liu C, Li R. Effects of Microplastic (MP) Exposure at Environmentally Relevant Doses on the Structure, Function, and Transcriptome of the Kidney in Mice. Molecules 2023; 28:7104. [PMID: 37894583 PMCID: PMC10608837 DOI: 10.3390/molecules28207104] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/15/2023] [Revised: 10/03/2023] [Accepted: 10/13/2023] [Indexed: 10/29/2023] Open
Abstract
As a common emerging environmental pollutant, microplastics (MPs) have been detected in a variety of environmental media and human bodies. The potential toxic effects and mechanisms of MPs need to be revealed urgently. MPs can be deposited in the kidney, and exposure to high doses of MPs can cause nephrotoxicity in experimental animals. In this study, we investigated the effects of exposure to polystyrene microplastics (PS-MPs) at environmentally relevant doses (0.1 and 1 mg/L) on kidney structure, function, and transcriptome in mice. We found that mice exposed to PS-MPs in drinking water for eight weeks had no change in body weight or kidney coefficient. PS-MPs administration decreased the levels of blood urea nitrogen (BUN) in mice, while serum creatinine (CRE) and uric acid (UA) concentrations were unaffected. Through using periodic acid-Schiff (PAS) and Masson staining, we discovered that the glomerular tuft area increased in the PS-MP-treated mice, while the degree of renal fibrosis remained unchanged. Furthermore, renal cortex transcriptomic analysis identified 388 and 303 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in the 0.1 and 1 mg/L dose groups, respectively. The DEGs were highly enriched in mitochondrial-related terms and pathways of thermogenesis and oxidative phosphorylation. Moreover, protein-protein interaction (PPI) network analysis revealed that cytochrome b-c1 complex subunit 10 (UQCR11) and cytochrome c oxidase subunit 3 (MT-CO3) were important node proteins. These findings suggest that environmental exposure to MPs can cause abnormalities in renal structure and filtration function and that long-term exposure to MPs may be a risk factor for renal disease.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | - Cuiqing Liu
- School of Public Health, Joint China-US Research Center for Environment and Pulmonary Diseases, Zhejiang International Science and Technology Cooperation Base of Air Pollution and Health, Zhejiang Chinese Medical University, Hangzhou 310053, China (J.W.)
| | - Ran Li
- School of Public Health, Joint China-US Research Center for Environment and Pulmonary Diseases, Zhejiang International Science and Technology Cooperation Base of Air Pollution and Health, Zhejiang Chinese Medical University, Hangzhou 310053, China (J.W.)
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Liu M, Mu J, Wang M, Hu C, Ji J, Wen C, Zhang D. Impacts of polypropylene microplastics on lipid profiles of mouse liver uncovered by lipidomics analysis and Raman spectroscopy. JOURNAL OF HAZARDOUS MATERIALS 2023; 458:131918. [PMID: 37356177 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2023.131918] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/11/2023] [Revised: 06/19/2023] [Accepted: 06/21/2023] [Indexed: 06/27/2023]
Abstract
Microplastics (MPs) are emerging contaminants, and there are only limited studies reporting the impacts of some MPs on liver lipid metabolism in animals. In this study, we investigated the accumulation of polypropylene-MPs in mouse liver and unraveled the change in lipid metabolic profiles by both lipidomics and Raman spectroscopy. Polypropylene-MP exposure did not cause obvious health symptoms, but hematoxylin-eosin staining showed pathological changes that polypropylene-MPs induced lipid droplet accumulation in liver. Lipidomics results showed a significant change in lipid metabolic profiles and the most influenced categories were triglycerides, fatty acids, free fatty acids and lysophosphatidylcholine, implying the effects of polypropylene-MPs on the hemostasis of lipid droplet biogenesis and catabolism. Most altered lipids contained unsaturated bonds and polyunsaturated phospholipids, possibly affecting the fluidity and curvature of membrane surfaces. Raman spectroscopy confirmed that the major spectral alterations of liver tissues were related to lipids, evidencing the altered lipid metabolism and cell membrane components in the presence of polypropylene-MPs. Our findings firstly disclosed the impacts of polypropylene-MPs on lipid metabolisms in mouse liver and hinted at their detrimental disturbance on membrane properties, cellular lipid storage and oxidation regulation, helping our deeper understanding on the toxicities and corresponding risks of polypropylene-MPs to mammals.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mingying Liu
- School of Basic Medical Sciences, Zhejiang Chinese Medical University, Hangzhou 310053, PR China
| | - Ju Mu
- School of Basic Medical Sciences, Zhejiang Chinese Medical University, Hangzhou 310053, PR China
| | - Miao Wang
- School of Basic Medical Sciences, Zhejiang Chinese Medical University, Hangzhou 310053, PR China
| | - Changfeng Hu
- School of Basic Medical Sciences, Zhejiang Chinese Medical University, Hangzhou 310053, PR China
| | - Jinjun Ji
- School of Basic Medical Sciences, Zhejiang Chinese Medical University, Hangzhou 310053, PR China
| | - Chengping Wen
- School of Basic Medical Sciences, Zhejiang Chinese Medical University, Hangzhou 310053, PR China.
| | - Dayi Zhang
- Key Laboratory of Groundwater Resources and Environment, Ministry of Education, Changchun 130021, PR China; College of New Energy and Environment, Jilin University, Changchun 130021, PR China.
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