黑色素细胞与黑色素影响乌骨鸡自身免疫系统发育的分子机制研究

Melanin from Silky Fowl is an important nutrient.Research suggested that melanin can extend Drosophila life,and it can be involved in human cell immune response.Silky Fowl is famous for hyperpigmentation, but researches on the impact of melanin in Silky's own immune system are very rare. This project intends to discover the role of endogenous melanocyte or melanin to Silky Fowl immune system development, as well as the effect of melanin after ingestion by animals. By histological observation, we want to understand details of melanocyte and melanin distribution, including interaction status of adjacent melanocytes and immune cells.By using transcriptome sequencing, we are going to screen out differentially expressed genes in the immune organs,which regulate the gene pathways of immune reactions.By lymphocytes co-culture with melanocytes,we want to display the correlation between the two types of cells,and we will detect the regulation of immune factor genes.Add melanin in the lymphocyte culture system, we would see effect of melanin on immune factor expression. To inspect whether melanocytes performing immunological actors, stimulation by bacterial lipopolysaccharide and cytokines on melanocytes in vitro will be carried on to decide the ability of melanocytes on immune response. In addition, mice will be fed with Silky melanin, by observing morphological of mice intestinal mucosal immune cells and detecting immune factor expression, to further understand the function of exogenous melanin.

乌骨鸡黑色素是重要的营养物质，可延长果蝇寿命，参与人体细胞免疫。乌骨鸡体内天然富含黑色素，但关于黑色素对乌骨鸡自身免疫系统影响的研究却少有报道。本课题拟针对乌骨鸡黑色素细胞和黑色素对其自身免疫系统发育的影响，以及乌骨鸡黑色素被动物食入后对动物肠粘膜免疫系统的作用开展研究。通过组织学观察，掌握黑色素细胞及黑色素在乌骨鸡免疫器官的分布，黑色素细胞与邻近的免疫细胞间的分布关系；利用转录组测序，筛选乌骨鸡与非乌骨鸡免疫器官差异表达的基因，分析黑色素细胞发育过程中免疫基因通路调节的变化；通过黑色素细胞与淋巴细胞共培养，研究黑色素细胞对免疫因子表达的影响；在淋巴细胞培养体系中加入黑色素，研究黑色素对免疫因子表达的影响；用免疫类似物刺激黑色素细胞，分析黑色素细胞能否递呈免疫信息，表现免疫细胞特性。另外，用乌骨鸡黑色素饲喂小鼠，观察小鼠肠道粘膜免疫细胞形态，分析细胞因子表达，以进一步分析黑色素的免疫功能。

以白莱航鸡为对照，全面对乌骨鸡体内黑色素细胞的分布特点做更系统的阐释。同时，分析了随日龄增加，不同组织内黑色素的沉积程度差异。首次证实黑色素细胞的大量迁移分布会影响乌骨鸡自身免疫系统的发育，并影响盲肠内唾液酸受体的表达。本研究还进一步阐明了黑色素细胞具有一定的免疫学特性，这也是乌骨鸡自身先天免疫抗病的优势所在。通过成功建立黑色素细胞体外分离培养体系，证实了黑色素细胞也能够产生和表达特定非编码RNA，这可能是黑色素细胞调控其它细胞发育的机制之一。