Gene expression profiling in Chinese mininature pig liver tissue following clenbuterol administration

Clenbuterol-HCL can greatly reduce fat deposition and increase skeletal muscle growth at high dosages. In order to advance our understanding of the fundamental molecular mechanisms, Genechips were used to study the differential gene expression profiles of liver tissues among the pigs with/without Clenbuterol-HCL. Differentially expressed genes identified will be the candidates for further investigations on the molecular mechanisms involved in Clenbuterol-HCL of exerting repartition effects on adipose and skeletal muscle tissue. 4 Chinese mininature pigs were broken into 2 groups with each group having two full sib pigs with the same gender. For the following 8 weeks, test pigs were fed 25 mg/kg clenbuterol twice daily in their diets for 4 weeks and 50 mg/kg clenbuterol for another 4 weeks. The vehicle control pigs were administered in the same manner except that no clenbuterol was added in their diets. The liver expression profiles of 4 pigs were analyzed using Porcine Genome GeneChip. After hybridization, genechips were washed and stained in the Affymetrix Fluidics Station 400 and scanned by using Hewlett-Packard GeneArray Scanner G2500A.