Adipogenesis - the formation of fat cells - in chicken femurs has been investigated using quantitative analysis of how proteins are expressed in different test subjects.
Writing in Proteome Science, researchers at Taipei Medical University explain how they undertook quantitative analysis of the proteins present in healthy chickens and in those with adipogenesis induced by steroids.
In all, 13 proteins were expressed differently between the two groups, with downregulation to a factor of three or more in nine protein spots.
The analysis was carried out after 19 weeks of treatment with methylprednisolone, a steroid used to trigger adipogenesis in the chickens' femoral bone marrow.
With significant protein differences between healthy and adipogenetic subjects, the scientists suggest that proteomic profiling could be useful for detecting how expression varies between individuals.
In turn, they argue that their findings could develop into a means of testing for potential onset of steroid-induced femoral osteonecrosis.
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