Promotion of adipogenesis by neuropeptide Y during the later stages of chicken preadipocyte differentiation

Neuropeptide Y (NPY) promotes adipogenesis in both birds and mammals, although mechanisms in avians remain unclear. The objective of this study was thus to evaluate effects of NPY on chick preadipocyte proliferation and differentiation. Preadipocytes were treated with 0, 1, 10, or 100 nmol/L NPY and gene expression and cellular proliferation were evaluated at 12, 24, and 48 h. At 12 h posttreatment, mRNA abundance of topoisomerase II alpha (TOP2A), and thioredoxin‐dependent peroxidase 2 was upregulated and NPY was downregulated in response to NPY (0 vs. 100 nmol/L) in preadipocytes. Cells were also treated with NPY during differentiation and harvested at 8, 10, and 12 days postinduction of differentiation. At day 8 postinduction of differentiation, there was increased lipid accumulation (0 vs. 10 and 100 nmol/L), expression of CCAAT/enhancer binding protein β and fatty acid binding protein 4 (FABP4) (0 vs. 100 nmol/L), and sterol regulatory element‐binding protein (0 vs. 10 and 100 nmol/L) mRNA in NPY‐treated cells. The number of proliferating cells decreased on day 8 in response to NPY (0 vs. 10 nmol/L). At day 10, FABP4 and Kruppel‐like factor 7 mRNAs were downregulated (0 vs. 10 and 100 nmol/L, and 100 nmol/L, respectively), and at day 12, TOP2A mRNA was down‐regulated (0 vs. 100 nmol/L) in response to NPY treatment. Activity of glycerol‐3‐phosphate dehydrogenase (G3PDH) was increased on days 10 and 12 in NPY‐treated cells (0 vs. 100 nmol/L). Increased gene expression of proliferation markers in preadipocytes, and during differentiation increased expression of transcription factors and a fatty acid transporter, increased lipid accumulation, and increased activity of G3PDH suggest that NPY may enhance preadipocyte activity, adipogenesis, and promotes lipid accumulation throughout chicken adipocyte differentiation.