Biochemical properties of cofactor and coenzyme metabolism in porcine oviductal epithelial cells – a microarray study

The oviduct is a key organ responsible for ultimate oocytes maturation, transport of gametes, sperm capacitation, fertilization, as well as early embryo development. Its innermost layer, oviductal epithelium, represents a highly dynamic structure which undergoes changes in response to different physiological and pathological processes. Previously, the expression profile of genes involved in several important processes in porcine oviductal epithelial cells (OECs) during long-term primary in vitro culture. The present study further characterizes the porcine OECs model using Affymetrix microarray assay and it analyzes gene expression changes observed on the 7th, 15th and 30th day of culture. 25 genes belonging to “coenzyme metabolic process”, “cofactor biosynthetic process” and “cofactor metabolic process” GO BP terms were differentially expressed in culture. The most up-regulated genes were ALDH1L2, P2RX7, PANK1, ACSS2, SCD, AASS and PDK3. In contrast, several genes appeared to be significantly down-regulated, e.g. ACSL4 and HAAO. Considering the biological roles of the most regulated genes, it can be concluded that these changes may indicate the increased metabolic and proliferation activity of studied cells in primary in vitro culture.

Running title: Cofactor and coenzyme metabolism in porcine oviductal epithelial cells