Developmental changes of protein profiles in the embryonic Sanhuang chicken liver.

Understanding embryonic liver development bears the potential to provide important insights into treatments and preventative strategies for paediatric liver disease. Using Sanhuang (SH) chicken as a model system, we sought to identify the proteomic changes associated with embryonic liver development using differential display of proteins with two-dimensional (2-D) polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization-time of flight (MALDI-TOF) mass spectrometry analysis. Embryonic livers from 200 SH chicken embryos were isolated on days 9, 14 and 19 during incubation and also immediately after hatching. Six hundred and two protein spots were displayed on 2-D gels stained with colloidal Coomassie brilliant blue, of which, 25 protein spots were found to have changes up to threefold in abundance during development. We identified these spots using MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry and found 23 of 25 proteins to be associated with carbohydrate metabolism, cell division, lipid metabolism and signal transduction. Our results provide insight into the biochemical events taking place during the development of SH chicken embryonic liver and highlight the value of proteomics in characterizing complex biochemical processes. Furthermore, the proteome maps may facilitate future studies addressing the effects of genetic and environmental factors and related studies on the development and quality of chicken embryonic liver.