Expression pattern of mRNA of liver and mammary in dairy cows fed two different level of forage/concentrate ration

Liver and mammary gland are among the most prominent organs during lactation in dairy cows. With the purpose to understand 1) the adaptation of liver and mammary to different levels of forage/concentrate ration (60:40 vs. 40:60) and 2) the crosstalk between the two organs during lactation, a transcriptome analysis was performed on liver and mammary tissues of 10 primiparous dairy cows in mid-lactation. The analysis was performed using a 4x44K Bovine Agilent microarray chip. The mammary and liver samples were obtained from a subset of animals from a larger experiment where cows were fed two different levels of forage/concentrare ration (Archives of Animal Nutrition, 68:1, 63-71). Liver and mammary tissues were collected through biopsy from 10 dairy cows in mid-lactation fed with 40% forage and 60% concentrate (CS; n=5) or 60% forage and 40% concentrate (MF; n=5)