Effects of aflatoxin on hepatic gene expression in a poultry model

The objective of this study was to determine the effects of dietary aflatoxin (AF) on hepatic gene expression in male broiler chicks. Seventy five day-old male broiler chicks were assigned to three dietary treatments (five replicates of five chicks each) from hatch to day 21. The diets contained 0, 1 and 2 mg AF/kg of feed. Aflatoxin reduced (P < 0.05) feed intake (FI), body weight gain (BWG), serum total proteins, serum Ca and P, but increased (P < 0.01) liver weights in a dose dependent manner. Microarray analysis was used to identify shifts in genetic expression associated with the affected physiological processes in chicks fed 0 and 2 mg AF/kg of feed to identify potential targets for pharmacological/toxicological intervention. A loop design was used for microarray experiments with three technical and four biological replicates per treatment group. Ribonucleic acid (RNA) was extracted from liver tissue and its quality was determined using gel electrophoresis and spectrophotometry. High quality RNA was purified from DNA contamination, reverse transcribed, and hybridized to an oligonucleotide microarray chip. Microarray data were analyzed using a 2-step ANOVA model and validated by quantitative real-time PCR. Genes with false discovery rates less than 13% and fold change greater than 1.4% were considered as differentially expressed. Compared with controls (0