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Antimicrobial Peptide Expression Is Developmentally Regulated in the Ovine Gastrointestinal Tract

Kenneth M. Huttner, Donna J. Brezinski-Caliguri, Megan M. Mahoney, and Gill Diamond*

Joint Program in Neonatology, Children's Hospital, Boston, MA 02115 and * Department of Anatomy, Cell Biology and Injury Sciences, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey-New Jersey Medical School, Newark, NJ 07103

Antimicrobial peptides are abundant components of the innate immune system present in species throughout the plant and animal kingdoms. In mammals, these immune peptides have been localized to epithelial tissues of the pig, mouse, rat, cow and human gastrointestinal tracts. We have identified in sheep two members of the beta -defensin antimicrobial peptide gene family that are expressed in a unique pattern throughout the gastrointestinal tract. Sheep beta -defensin 1 mRNA is the most prevalent from tongue to colon with the exception of the distal ileum, where beta -defensin 2 mRNA predominates. Sheep beta -defensin expression varies significantly between animals and is developmentally regulated both pre- and postnatally. These changes in antimicrobial peptide expression may correlate with anatomical differentiation as well as physiologic adaptations to extra-uterine life.

Key words: Ovis aries, defensin, fetus, development.

The Journal of Nutrition Vol. 128 No. 2 February 1998, pp. 297S-299S
Copyright ©1998 by the American Society for Nutritional Sciences






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Copyright © 1998 by American Society for Nutrition