Animals and Tissue Collection
Twenty dairy cows were selected from a 5,000-cow dairy farm located in Suihua City, Heilongjiang Province, China based on the milk fat content in the milk. Selected lactating Holstein cows with similar numbers of lactations and body condition scores. The twenty dairy cows were divided into two groups: high milk fat (milk fat >3.5%) and low milk fat (milk fat<3.5%)[26](Table 1). Milk yield of lactating cows with high-fat milk was 34.55 ± 3.44 kg/d. Milk yield of lactating cows with low-fat milk was 34.33 ± 2.53 kg/d. Body condition scores are 2.80 ± 0.16.
All cows are guaranteed to be free from other diseases and are kept in separate pens, where they can drink freely. TMR full mixed diets were fed daily at 5:30 and 18:00 (Table S1). Milk samples were collected daily and added with preservative (1 mg/mL of potassium dichromate) for the detection of milk fat, milk protein and lactose. The 20 dairy cows were slaughtered at 60 DIM. After bloodletting and slaughtering, the mammary gland parenchyma was collected aseptically for cell culture, and a portion of the mammary gland parenchyma was frozen at -80℃ and 4% formaldehyde for subsequent experiments.
Milk component
|
Dairy cows with low-fat milk (n=10)
|
Dairy cows with high-fat milk (n=10)
|
Milk fat (%)
|
2.583±0.1991
|
4.490±0.2274
|
Milk protein (%)
|
3.213±0.0873
|
3.123±0.1690
|
Lactose(%)
|
4.827±0.1486
|
4.847±0.01667
|
Table 1
Milk components of lactating Hostern dairy cows
Cell Culture and Treatment
Isolation and culture of bovine mammary gland epithelial cells as previously described[27]. Briefly, lactating cows are slaughtered, mammary glands are collected and bovine mammary epithelial cells are cultured using adherent methods. Bovine mammary epithelial cells were purified using a cell passage method, and the resulting cells were identified for purity using K18. Mammary epithelial cells were cultured using DMEM medium containing 10% calf serum in a humidified atmosphere of 95% air and 5% CO2.
For experimental assays, 25,000 cells were added to a 60×15 mm dish (Life Science, Oneonta, NY, USA), and different concentration of Kp-10 was added to the medium. To suppress GPR54 receptor, peptide-234 was added to the medium. In order to activate AMPK signaling pathway and overexpression SIRT6, AICAR and Over-expression plasmi of Sirt 6 were added to culture medium.
Triglyceride Content Assay
Milk fat content was measured using a triglyceride content kit according to the method previously described[28]. Briefly, BMECs were incubated with Kp-10 for 24 h. The medium was discarded and the cells were lysed with lysate, centrifuged at 2000 rpm for 5 min, and protein concentration was measured using BCA. A working solution was then prepared to measure and calculate the triglyceride content in 550nm.
Lipid Droplet Observation
BODIPY 493/503 (Invitrogen) was used to stain Lipid Droplets in BMECs[5]. Briefly, the cells were plated in 6-well plates with coverslips. After the cells were adhered, the cells were treated with different concentrations of Kp-10 and peptide-234 and incubated for 24 hours. Subsequently, the cells were washed 3 times with PBS, and the cells were incubated with Bodipy 493/503 for 15 min. Then the nuclei were stained with DAPI and mounted, and then observed with a fluorescence microscope (TCS SP5; Leica, Mannheim, Germany).
Western Blotting
Western blotting was performed as described[27]. Briefly, the cells were washed 3 times with PBS, then the cells were lysed with NP40 (Beyotime, Shanghai, China) (50 mM Tris, pH 7.4; 150 mM NaCl; 1% Triton X-100; 1% sodium deoxycholate; 0.1% SDS; sodium orthovanadate; sodium fluoride; ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid, leupeptin; 1 mM PMSF). Protein concentrations were determined using an Enhanced BCA Protein Assay Kit (Beyotime, Shanghai, China). The proteins were separated using 4% and 12% SDS-PAGE (20 μg/lane) and transferred to the PVDF membrane (Millipore, Darmstadt, Germany). Subsequently, the PVDF membrane was blocked with 5% milk with TBST for 2 hours and incubated with primary antibody at 4 ℃ overnight. The primary antibodies were as follows: FASN (3180T), p-AMPK(2535s), AMPK (5832s) and Acetytated-lysine (9441s) were purchased from Cell Signaling Technology Inc. (USA). GPR54 (15505-1-AP), β-actin (66009-1-1g), SREBP1 (14088-1-AP) and SIRT6 (13572-1-AP) were purchased from Proteintech Co., Inc. (China). The PVDF membrane was washed 5 times with PBST for 10 min each, and incubated with HRP-labeled secondary antibody (Boster, BA1055/BA1051, USA) configured with 5% milk with TBST for 1 h. Protein bands were visualized using a Beyo Enhanced Chemiluminescence Reagent Kit (Beyotime).
Immunoprecipitation assay
Immunoprecipitation was performed as described[27]. Briefly, cell supernatant was collected in a 1.5 mL centrifugal tube using lysis buffer (0.025 M Tris, 0.15 M NaCl, 0.001 M EDTA, 1% NP 40 and 5% glycerol), and acetylated-Lysine (CST, USA) anti-body was added to each sample to form immune complexes. Then, 25 μL Pierce protein A/G was added to each sample tube, and the magnetic beads were collected by a 12-tube magnetic separation rack (CST). Finally, 100 μL eluent was added to elute the proteins on the magnetic beads, and the samples were prepared for Western blot experiments. The Co-IP test was performed using the PierceTM Classic Magnetic IP/Co-IP Kit.
Real-time (RT) PCR
The BMECs were stimulated with Kp-10 for 24 hours, and the expression of FASN and SREBP1 mRNA was detected. RT-PCR was performed as described[27]. Briefly, total RNA in BMECs was extracted using TRIzol reagentaccording to the instructions (Life Technologies, California, USA). 2 μg of total RNA was reverse-transcribed into cDNA using the PrimeScriptTM RT reagent kit (TaKaRa, Kusatsu, Japan). RT-PCR was performed on a CFX96 system using SYBR® Green Premix Ex TaqTM II (TaKaRa, Kusatsu, Japan) and 1 μL of cDNA. Each PCR was run in triplicate at 95 °C for 30 s followed by 40 cycles of 95 °C for 5 s and 60 °C for 30 s, and a melt curve was generated from 65 °C to 95 °C (0.5°C per 5 s). β-actin was used as a reference gene, and the amount of mRNA was calculated with the 2-ΔΔCTmethod. All RT-PCR analyses were repeated 3 times. The primer sequences were as follows as Table 2.
Gene
|
Primers
|
Length (bp)
|
FASN
|
(F) 5'-TCCTCCACCGCACACTCCATC-3'
|
141
|
(R)5'-CTCCTCCAGGTTCTCCGACTCAG-3'
|
SREBP1
|
(F) 5'-CTCCGACACCACCAGCATCAAC-3'
|
122
|
(R) 5'-GCAGCCCATTCATCAGCCAGAC-3'
|
β-actin
|
(F)5'-CGTCCGTGACATCAAGGAGAAGC-3'
|
143
|
(R) 5'-GGAACCGCTCATTGCCGATGG-3'
|
Table 2
Primer sequences of FASN, SREBP1 and β-actin
Cell transfection
Transient transfection was performed using Lipofectamine 2000 (Invitrogen) according to the manufacturer’s instruction. The cells were plated in 60×15 mm dish at 1×106 cells/dish. For Sirt6 overexpression, 80% confluent cells were transfected with either 2.5μg of pcDNA3.1-Sirt6 or pcDNA3.1(+) as a negative control. All experiments were performed in triplicate. After 24 h of transfection, cells were harvested for lipid droplet immunostaining and TAG content assays. The following PCR primer pair was used:
Forward 5′-CGGGGTACCGCCACCATGTCGGTGAATTACGCG-3′
Reverse 5′-CCGGAATTCGCTAGGCACCACCTCGGTTTTC-3′.
Statistical Analysis
Each experiment consisted of three sets of replicates, and the data were shown using mean±standard error. Data were analyzed for significance using Unpaired Student’s t-tests (two groups) and ANOVA (general linear model) (more than two groups). Different symbols indicate differences between groups (p <0.05).