Expression patterns of the chicken peroxisome proliferator-activated receptors (PPARs) during the development of the digestive organs.

Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptors (PPARs) play very important roles in various biological phenomena such as regulation of lipid metabolism, homeostasis, cell differentiation and proliferation, in a variety of organs and tissues. However, their functions in the development of the digestive organs have not been studied yet, although it has been supposed that they are involved in the tumor development and regression of digestive organs. To provide fundamental data to analyze functions of PPARs in the developing digestive organs in the chicken embryos, we performed thorough analysis of expression of PPARalpha, beta (delta) and gamma in the esophagus, proventriculus (glandular stomach), gizzard (muscular stomach), small and large intestines from early developmental stages to post hatch stages. The results showed that each PPAR is expressed in spatio-temporally regulated manner. In general, PPARbeta is widely expressed among digestive organs whereas PPARalpha and gamma showed restricted expression. In the intestine, all PPARs are expressed after hatch, indicating that they play important roles in the physiology of the adult intestine.