Physiological and pathophysiological aspects of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor regulation by fatty acids in poultry species

Abstract

Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptors (PPAR) belong to a family of nuclear hormone receptors that are activated by fatty acids such as polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) and/or their derivatives. Three isoforms of PPAR namely α (alpha), β (beta), and γ (gamma) are found to be highly expressed in tissues relevant to energy homeostasis. The PPAR signalling pathway, which is involved in lipid metabolism and storage, play a role in livestock meat quality. Elucidating the molecular mechanisms of PPAR action of fat metabolism may have extensive implications not only in animal biology for health and feed efficiency improvement, but also in molecular nutrition as a potent nutritional supplement in poultry species.

Keywords::

• chicken
• fatty acids
• gene expression
• PPAR
• physiology

Acknowledgments

The authors are very grateful to the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Universiti Putra, Malaysia for their assistance with this paper.