ACTA VETERINARIA ET ZOOTECHNICA SINICA ›› 2019, Vol. 50 ›› Issue (8): 1676-1684.doi: 10.11843/j.issn.0366-6964.2019.08.017

• BASIC VETERINARY MEDICINE • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Distribution and Expression of Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme 2 (ACE2) in the Jejunum of Piglets and Its Relationship with Substance Transport

LI Zhiqiang, YAN Shuping, JI Xiaoxia, WANG Kai, ZHANG Yuanshu*   

  1. Key Laboratory of Animal Physiology and Biochemistry of Ministry of Agriculture, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing 210095, China
  • Received:2019-01-30 Online:2019-08-23 Published:2019-08-23

Abstract: This study was conducted to explore the correlation among the angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE2), the neutral amino acid transporter B0AT1 and the glucose transporters SGLT-1 and GLUT-2 by studying their distribution and expression in the intestines of piglets of different ages. Weaning piglets were used as the experiment animals. The middle jejunum tissues of piglets at 21 and 35 days of age were collected. The distribution and expression of ACE2 in the jejunum of piglets, and the expression of B0 AT1, SGLT-1 and GLUT-2 mRNA in jejunal tissues of piglets at different days were determined by Immunohistochemistry, Western blot, real-time PCR and HPLC. By detecting the types and content of free amino acids in plasma, the relationship between these indexes was analyzed. The results showed that ACE2 was mainly located in the folds and villi of the small intestine, and was expressed significantly in the brush border, serosal layer and muscle layer of jejunal epithelial cells; As the piglets grew older, the mRNA expressions of ACE2, B0AT1 and SGLT-1 and the content of serum neutral amino acids all increased, while the mRNA expression of GLUT-2 showed no significant change. These results indicated that ACE2 existed in jejunum of piglets, and ACE2 was related to the transport of amino acids and other substances in intestine. This fact provides the basis for the exploration of the unknown new functions of ACE2.

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