ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Vet. Sci.
Sec. Animal Nutrition and Metabolism
Volume 12 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fvets.2025.1643818
Effects of all-trans retinoic acid and oxygen concentration on the proliferation and differentiation of subcutaneous adipocytes in yak
Provisionally accepted
- 1Southwest Minzu University, Chengdu, China
- 2Key Laboratory Plateau Animal Genetic Resource Reservation and Utilization, Chengdu, China
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In this study, we investigated the mechanism by which all-trans retinoic acid (ATRA) regulates the hypoxic adaptation of yak subcutaneous adipocytes through a dose-dependent regulation. The effects of different concentrations of ATRA (10 nM-10 μM) on cell proliferation and differentiation, lipid metabolism and key gene expression were analyzed by simulating a hypoxic environment (1% O2) in vitro. In the hypoxia model, ATRA showed biphasic regulation: the hypoxic environment inhibited cell survival, while low concentrations of ATRA (10-100 nM) significantly enhanced hypoxic cell survival and repaired lipid droplet accumulation by activating the PCNA/PPAR-γ signaling axis; while high concentrations of ATRA (1 μM -10 μM) induced apoptosis and inhibited differentiation by upregulating BAX and inhibited differentiation, and its toxic effects were exacerbated by the hypoxic environment. In addition, a certain concentration (10 nM -100 nM) of ATRA antagonized the hypoxia-induced HIF-1α pathway and regulated hypoxia-induced metabolic reprogramming via PCNA /PPAR-γ. The study revealed a dose-dependent bidirectional regulatory mechanism of ATRA in the hypoxic adaptation of yak adipocytes, which provides a new perspective for analyzing the energy metabolism strategy of plateau species.
Keywords: Yak, Subcutaneous adipocytes, All-trans retinoic acid, proliferation, differentiation, Hypoxia Adaptation
Received: 12 Jun 2025; Accepted: 04 Aug 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Yasenjian, Shan, Zhe, Zhang and Chai. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Zhixin Chai, Key Laboratory Plateau Animal Genetic Resource Reservation and Utilization, Chengdu, China
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