Differential regulation of the expression of lipid metabolism-related genes with skeletal muscle type in growing chickens

The regulatory mechanisms of carbohydrate and lipid metabolism are known to differ among skeletal muscle types in mammals. For example, glycolytic muscles prefer glucose as an energy source, whereas oxidative muscles prefer fatty acids (FA). We herein demonstrated differences in the expression of genes involved in carbohydrate and lipid metabolism in the pectoralis major (a glycolytic twitch muscle), adductor superficialis (an oxidative twitch muscle), and adductor profound (a tonic muscle) of 14-day-old chicks. Under ad libitum feeding conditions, the mRNA levels of muscle type phosphofructokinase-1 were markedly lower in the adductor superficialis muscle, suggesting that basal glycolytic activity is very low in this type of muscle. In contrast, high mRNA levels of lipoprotein lipase (LPL) and fatty acid translocase/cluster of differentiation 36 (FAT/CD36) in the adductor superficialis muscle suggest that FA uptake is high in this type of muscle. The mRNA levels of adipose triglyceride lipase (ATGL) and carnitine palmitoyltransferase 1b (CPT1b) were significantly higher in the adductor profound muscle than in other muscles, suggesting that basal lipolytic activity is high in this type of muscle. Furthermore, the mRNA levels of peroxisome proliferator activated receptor δ and CPT1b were significantly increased in the adductor superficialis muscle, but not in other muscles, after 24 h of fasting. Therefore, the availability of FA in the oxidative twitch muscles in growing chickens appears to be upregulated by fasting. Our results suggest that lipid metabolism-related genes are upregulated under both basal and fasting conditions in the adductor superficialis in growing chickens.