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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Physiol.
Sec. Avian Physiology
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fphys.2025.1553474
EFFECTS OF CHOLINERGICANTAGONISTS ON GHRELIN RELEASEAND EXPRESSION BY THE CROP,PROVENTRICULUS AND DUODENUM OFTHE NEWLY HATCHED CHICKEN
Provisionally accepted- 1 University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States
- 2 University of Agriculture in Krakow, Krakow, Poland
The aim of the study was to evaluate the effect of the cholinergic receptors antagonists on the ghrelin expression and release from the parts of gastrointestinal system of the unique animal model –newly hatched chicken. Ghrelin was released from explants of crop, proventriculus and duodenum tissue in vitro. There was also expression of ghrelin (GHRL) together with that of ghrelin O-acyltransferase (GOAT) and growth hormone secretagogue receptor (GHSR-1a) in crop, proventriculus and duodenum. This is the first report of ghrelin expression, synthesis and release in the avian crop. Release and expression of ghrelin together with ghrelin related parameters (expression of GOAT and GHSR-1a) were influenced by incubation with cholinergic antagonists particularly with gastro-intestinal explants from chicks within 2 hours of hatching. For instance, there was increased release of ghrelin from crop or proventriculus explants from newly hatched chicks in the presence of hexamethonium. In addition, expression of ghrelin, GOAT and GHSR-1a was increased in the presence of hexamethonium in crop explants from newly hatched chicks. In contrast, release of ghrelin from duodenal explants was depressed in the presence of either atropine or hexamethonium from either newly hatched chicks or one day old chicks. There were relationships between ghrelin release and expression and also with GOAT and GHSR-1a expression particularly for the crop explants from newly hatched chicks. For instance, there were strong relationships (adjusted R2 > 0.84) between expression of ghrelin, GOAT and GHSR with tissue incubated with cholinergic antagonists. This is a novel report demonstrating ghrelin release and synthesis from three regions of the avian gastro-intestinal tract. It also demonstrates that there is cholinergic control of ghrelin release and synthesis.
Keywords: ghrelin release, cholinergic receptors, GHRL expression, GOAT expression, GHSR-1 expression, chcken
Received: 30 Dec 2024; Accepted: 31 Mar 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Scanes, Jaszcza and Pierzchała-Koziec. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Colin Guy Scanes, University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee, Milwaukee, 53201, Wisconsin, United States
Klaudia Jaszcza, University of Agriculture in Krakow, Krakow, Poland
Krystyna Pierzchała-Koziec, University of Agriculture in Krakow, Krakow, Poland
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