Chicken model of steroid-induced bone marrow adipogenesis using proteome analysis: A preliminary study

Background: steroid-induced adipogenesis increases fat-cell volume and pressure in bone marrow. this may be a contributing factor in some forms of osteonecrosis. in this observational study,we aimed to determine the protein expression relating to steroid-induced adipogenesis of femoral bone marrow with use of a chicken model. we compared the histologic features of the femoral marrow of eight methylprednisolone (mp)-treated chickens with those of three control chickens and assessed differential proteins with 2-dimensional gel electrophoresis and differential proteins were identified by maldi-tof ms.results: one mp-induced chicken died of overdose anesthesia. methylprednisolone-induced proliferation of adipose tissue and new bone formation were found on histologic examination. in our study,13 proteins in the control and mp-induced groups were differently expressed and nine protein spots showed marked threefold downregulation after 19 weeks of mp treatment. these were serum amyloid p-component precursor,zinc finger protein 28,endothelial zinc finger protein 71,t-box transcription factor 3,cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor 1,myosin 1d,dimethylaniline monooxygenase,and two uncharacterized proteins.conclusions: proteomic profiling can be a useful dynamic approach for detecting protein expression in mp-induced adipogenesis of the femur in chickens. © 2010 li et al; licensee biomed central ltd.