Journal
BRITISH JOURNAL OF NUTRITION
Volume 124, Issue 7, Pages 668-680Publisher
CAMBRIDGE UNIV PRESS
DOI: 10.1017/S0007114520001701
Keywords
Tibetan sheep; Small-tailed Han sheep; Adipocyte phenotypes; Lipid metabolism and energy homoeostasis regulation
Categories
Funding
- National Nature Science Foundation of China [31601960, 31672453, 31661143020]
- State Key Laboratory of Grassland Agro-Ecosystems (Lanzhou University)
- key Research, Development and Conversion Program of Qinghai Province, China [2018-SF-145]
- Chinese Scholarship Council (CSC, China)
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This study aimed to gain insight into how adipose tissue of Tibetan sheep regulates energy homoeostasis to cope with low energy intake under the harsh environment of the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau (QTP). We compared Tibetan and Small-tailed Han sheep (n24 of each breed), all wethers and 1 center dot 5 years of age, which were each divided randomly into four groups and offered diets of different digestible energy (DE) densities: 8 center dot 21, 9 center dot 33, 10 center dot 45 and 11 center dot 57 MJ DE/kg DM. When the sheep lost body mass and were assumed to be in negative energy balance: (1) adipocyte diameter in subcutaneous adipose tissue was smaller and decreased to a greater extent in Tibetan than in Small-tailed Han sheep, but the opposite occurred in the visceral adipose tissue; (2) Tibetan sheep showed higher insulin receptor mRNA expression and lower concentrations of catabolic hormones than Small-tailed Han sheep and (3) Tibetan sheep had lower capacity for glucose and fatty acid uptake than Small-tailed Han sheep. Moreover, Tibetan sheep had lower AMPK alpha mRNA expression but higher mammalian target of rapamycin mRNA expression in the adipocytes than Small-tailed Han sheep. We concluded that Tibetan sheep had lower catabolism but higher anabolism in adipose tissue and reduced the capacity for glucose and fatty acid uptake to a greater extent than Small-tailed Han sheep to maintain energy homoeostasis when in negative energy balance. These responses provide Tibetan sheep with a high ability to cope with low energy intake and with the harsh environment of the QTP.
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