Profiling of differential gene expression in the hypothalamus of broiler-type Taiwan country chickens in response to acute heat stress

Acute heat stress severely impacts poultry production. The hypothalamus acts as a crucial center to regulate body temperature, detect temperature changes, and modulate the autonomic nervous system and endocrine loop for heat retention and dissipation. The purpose of this study was to investigate global gene expression in the hypothalamus of broiler-type B strain Taiwan country chickens after acute heat stress. Twelve 30-week-old hens were allocated to four groups. Three heat-stressed groups were subjected to acute heat stress at 38 °C for 2 hours without recovery (H2R0), with 2 hours of recovery (H2R2), and with 6 hours of recovery (H2R6). The control hens were maintained at 25 °C. At the end, hypothalamus samples were collected for gene expression analysis. The results showed that 24, 11, and 25 genes were upregulated and 41, 15, and 42 genes were downregulated in H2R0, H2R2, and H2R6 treatments, respectively. The expressions of gonadotropin-releasing hormone 1 (GNRH1), heat shock 27-kDa protein 1 (HSPB1), neuropeptide Y (NPY), and heat shock protein 25 (HSP25) were upregulated at all recovery times after heat exposure. Conversely, the expression of TPH2 was downregulated at all recovery times. A gene ontology analysis showed that most of the differentially expressed genes were involved in biological processes including cellular processes, metabolic processes, localization, multicellular organismal processes, developmental processes, and biological regulation. A functional annotation analysis showed that the differentially expressed genes were related to the gene networks of responses to stress and reproductive functions. These differentially expressed genes might be essential and unique key factors in the heat stress response of the hypothalamus in chickens.