Proceeding of Veterinary and Animal Science Days 2016, 8th- 10th June, Milan, Italy 

HAF © 2013 

Vol. III, No. 1s  ISSN: 2283-3927 

   

 

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Keywords 

Acute phase proteins, animal 

welfare, chicken, Gallus gallus 

 

CORRESPONDING AUTHOR 

Andreia T. Marques 

andreia.tomas@unimi.it 

 

JOURNAL HOME PAGE 

riviste.unimi.it/index.php/haf 

Widespread extrahepatic expression of acute-

phase proteins in chicken (Gallus gallus) 

tissues. 

A. T. Marquesa,* , Cristina Lecchia, Laura Nordioa, Chiara Giudicea, 

Guido Grillia, Helena Ariño-Bassolsa, Fabrizio Ceciliania 

 

 

aUniversità degli Studi di Milano, Department of Veterinary Medicine, Via Celoria 
10, 20133 Milano, Italy. 

 

Abstract 

Acute Phase Proteins (APP) are plasma proteins that can modify their expression in response to 

inflammation caused by tissue injury, infections, immunological disorders, or stress. Although APP are 

produced mainly in liver, extrahepatic production has been described (Marques et al., 2016; Lecchi et 

al., 2012). The aim of this work was to study the extrahepatic gene expression of five APP, namely α1-

acid glycoprotein (AGP), Serum amyloid A (SAA), Haptoglobin-like protein (PIT54), C-rective protein 

(CRP) and Ovotransferrin (OVT) (O'Reilly and Eckersall, 2014) in different healthy chicken (Gallus gallus) 

tissues by quantitative real time PCR (qPCR) and immunohistochemistry to detect the precise location 

of the proteins.  

APP gene expression was higher in liver compared with other tissues. mRNA coding for CRP, OVT and 

SAA was detected in all tissues involved in this study with a higher expression in gastrointestinal tract, 

respiratory system and lymphatic system. SAA expression was particularly high in cecal tonsil, lung, 

spleen and meckel’s diverticulum, whereas OVT showed a high expression in lung, bursa of Fabricius, 

pancreas, brain and adipose tissue. AGP and PIT54 was also detected in pericardial adipose tissue, 

spleen, kidney, lung, mucosa of proventriculus, mucosa of gizzard and pancreas but, oppositely to SAA, 

their mRNA was not detected in meckel’s diverticulum, cecal tonsil and bursa of Fabricius. These results 

suggest that each tissue is able to express different amount of APP even in healthy conditions and 

mount a local acute phase reaction. Immunohistochemistry to detect the precise location for AGP, OVT 

and SAA using available antibodies is ongoing. 
 

References 

Marques, A.T., Lecchi C., Grilli G., Giudice C., Nodari S.R., Vinco L.J., Ceciliani F., 2016. The effect of transport stress on turkey (Meleagris 

gallopavo) liver acute phase proteins gene expression. Res Vet Sci. Feb 104:92-95. 

O'Reilly, E.L., Eckersall, P.D., 2014. Acute phase proteins: a review of their function, behaviour and measurement in chickens. Worlds Poult. 

Sci. J. 70, 27–44. 

Lecchi, C., Dilda, F., Sartorelli, P., Ceciliani, F., 2012. Widespread expression of SAA and Hp RNA in bovine tissues after evaluation of suitable 

reference genes. Vet. Immunol. Immunopathol. 145 (1–2), 556–562. 

 

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