Possible functional roles of chemerin, a new adipokine, in domestic animals

Chemerin was recently identified as a novel adipokine highly expressed in adipose tissues of mouse and human and suggested to play a role in the pathophysiology of obesity. However, the function roles of chemerin in metabolic and cellular processes in domestic animals still remain unknown. Full‐length cDNA and predicted amino acid sequences of bovine chemerin and chemerin receptor were found to be highly homologous to those of the human and mouse, suggesting similar functions of these genes in cattle as in other species. Bovine chemerin mRNA was highly expressed in adipose tissues and liver, and the transcripts of chemerin receptor was abundant in adipose tissues, muscle, liver and brain. Both transcripts of chemerin and chemerin receptor were up‐regulated during the adipocyte differentiation of bovine preadipocytes. TNF‐ƒ¿ treatment (10ng/ml), an inhibitor of adipocyte differentiation, in bovine differentiated adipocytes increased the mRNA expression of bovine chemerin and chemerin receptor. These results indicate that chemerin, highly expressed in adipose tissues, regulate the fatty metabolism in adipose tissue through its receptor in cattle.