M. Gholizadeh - Department of Animal Sciences, Faculty of Animal Sciences and Food technology, Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources University of Khuzestan, Mollasani, Ahvaz, Iran
J. Fayazi - Department of Animal Sciences, Faculty of Animal Sciences and Food technology, Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources University of Khuzestan, Mollasani, Ahvaz, Iran
H. Zali - Department of Tissue Engineering and Applied Cell Sciences, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
Y. Asgari - Department of Medical Biotechnology, School of Advanced Technologies in Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

The transition from normal forage to a highly fermentable diet to achieve rapid weight gain in the cattle industry can induce ruminal acidosis. The molecular host mechanisms that occur in acidosis are largely unknown. Therefore, the histology and transcriptome profiling of rumen epithelium was investigated in normal and acidosis animals to understand the molecular mechanisms involved in the disease. The rumen epithelial transcriptome from acidosis (n=۳) and control (n=۳) Holstein steers was obtained using RNA-sequencing. The mean values of clean reads were ۷۰,۹۷۵,۴۶۰±۹۸۴,۰۴۶ and ۷۱,۱۴۲,۱۸۹±۸۳۴,۵۲۶ in normal and acidosis samples, respectively. In total, ۱,۰۷۴ differentially expressed genes were identified in the two groups (p <۰.۰۵), of which ۶۲۴ and ۴۵۰ genes were up- and down-regulated in the acidosis samples, respectively. Functional analysis indicated that the majority of the up-regulated genes had a function in filament organization, positive regulation of epithelial and muscle fiber concentration, biomineral tissue development, negative regulation of fat cell differential, regulation of ion transmembrane transport, regulation of cell adhesion and butyrate, as well as short-chain fatty acid absorption that was metabolized as an energy source. Functional analysis of the down-regulated genes revealed effects in immune response, positive regulation of T-cell migration, regulation of metabolic processes, and localization. Furthermore, the results showed a differential expression of genes involved in the Map Kinase and Toll-like receptor signaling pathways. The IL۱B, CXCL۵, IL۳۶A, and IL۳۶B were significantly down-regulated in acidosis rumen tissue samples. The results suggest that rapid shifts to rich fermentable carbohydrates diets cause an increase in the concentration of ruminal volatile fatty acids, tissue damage, and significant changes in transcriptome profiles of rumen epithelial.

Acidosis, Cattle, Ruminal epithelial tissue, Transcriptome