Interpretive Summary: Calcium-sensing receptor is not expressed in the absorptive enterocytes of weaned piglets

By: Xiaoya Zhao, Qianru Hui, Paula Azevedo, Charles Martin Nyachoti, Karmin O, and Chengbo Yang

The calcium-sensing receptor (CaSR) has been identified as a nutrient sensor along the gastrointestinal tract and plays a pivotal role in food digestion, nutrient absorption, and energy metabolism. Hence, elucidating the expression pattern of pig CaSR (pCaSR) in the intestinal segments, especially in the absorptive enterocytes, could reveal the significance of pCaSR in nutrient sensing in the gastrointestinal tract. In the present work, after isolating enterocytes from the ileum of weaned piglets, we investigated the expression of pCaSR in porcine enterocytes through a combination of biological tools at both gene and protein expression levels. Data observed in the current study revealed that porcine enterocytes could be obtained by using cell sorting with a digestive enzyme (sucrase-isomaltase) as the enterocyte-specific marker. Plus, the pCaSR is not expressed in either isolated porcine ileal enterocytes or the intestinal porcine enterocyte cell line-j2 (IPEC-J2).

Read the full article in the Journal of Animal Science.