IMR Press / FBL / Volume 28 / Issue 6 / DOI: 10.31083/j.fbl2806126
Open Access Original Research
Tissue-Specific Variation in Aquaporins and Cytokines Transcriptional Profiles in Piglets being LPS Challenged
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1 Research Institute for Medicines (iMed.ULisboa), Faculdade de Farmácia, Universidade de Lisboa, Avenida Professor Gama Pinto, 1649-003 Lisboa, Portugal
2 Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences and Medicines, Faculdade de Farmácia, Universidade de Lisboa, Avenida Professor Gama Pinto, Universidade de Lisboa, 1649-003 Lisboa, Portugal
3 CIISA - Centro de Investigação Interdisciplinar em Sanidade Animal, Faculdade de Medicina Veterinária, Universidade de Lisboa, Avenida da Universidade Técnica, Pólo Universitário do Alto da Ajuda, 1300-477 Lisboa, Portugal
4 Laboratório Associado para Ciência Animal e Veterinária (AL4AnimalS), Faculdade de Medicina Veterinária, Universidade de Lisboa, 1300-477 Lisboa, Portugal
*Correspondence: gsoveral@ff.ulisboa.pt (Graça Soveral); ampalopes@fmv.ulisboa.pt (Paula A. Lopes)
Front. Biosci. (Landmark Ed) 2023, 28(6), 126; https://doi.org/10.31083/j.fbl2806126
Submitted: 17 April 2023 | Revised: 25 May 2023 | Accepted: 7 June 2023 | Published: 28 June 2023
Copyright: © 2023 The Author(s). Published by IMR Press.
This is an open access article under the CC BY 4.0 license.
Abstract

Background: Lipopolysaccharide (LPS), an effective stimulator of the immune system, has been widely applied in an experimental pig model for human sepsis. Aquaporins (AQPs), a family of small integral membrane proteins responsible for facilitating water fluxes through the cell membrane, offer potential promising drug targets for sepsis treatment due to their role in water balance and inflammation. Methods: In order to investigate the potential effect of a dietary amino acid mixture supplementation on LPS-challenged weaned piglets, a total of 30, 28-day-old, males were randomly allocated to 1 of 3 dietary treatments for a 5-week period, with 10 animals in each: diet 1 was a control (CTL) treatment; diet 2 was LPS treatment, where the piglets were intraperitoneally administered LPS (at 25 µg/kg body weight); diet 3 was LPS + cocktail treatment, where the piglets were intraperitoneally administered LPS and fed a diet supplemented with a mixture of arginine, branched-chain amino acids (BCAA, leucine, valine, and isoleucine), and cystine. Key organs that control sepsis were collected and processed by real time quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR) for the AQPs and cytokines transcriptional profiles. Results: Minor variations were detected for AQPs and inflammatory markers mRNA levels, upon the dependence of LPS or the amino acid cocktail suggesting the piglets’ immune recovery. Using a discriminant analysis tool, we report for the first time, a tissue-specific variation in AQPs and cytokines transcriptional profiles that clearly distinguish the small intestine and the kidney from the liver and the spleen. Conclusions: This study provides a novel insight into the gene expression signature of AQPs and cytokines in the functional physiology of each organ in piglets.

Keywords
lipopolysaccharide
sepsis
aquaporins
inflammation
amino acids
piglets
Funding
PTDC/BTMSAL/28977/2017/Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT, Lisbon, Portugal)
UIDB/04138/2020/Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT, Lisbon, Portugal)
UIDP/04138/2020/Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT, Lisbon, Portugal)
UIDB/00276/2020/Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT, Lisbon, Portugal)
LA/P/0059/2020/Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT, Lisbon, Portugal)
SFRH/BD/126198/2016/PhD fellowship
DL57/2016/CP1438/CT0007/FCT Stimulus of Scientific Employment Program
Figures
Fig. 1.
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