title: Protein expression changes in skeletal muscle in response to growth promoter abuse in beef cattle.
abstract: The fraudulent treatment of cattle with growth promoting agents (GPAs) is a matter of great concern for the European Union (EU) authorities and consumers. It has been estimated that 10% of animals are being illegally treated in the EU. In contrast, only a much lower percentage of animals (<0.5%) are actually found as being noncompliant by conventional analytical methods. Thus, it has been proposed that methods should be developed that can detect the use of the substances via the biological effects of these substances on target organs, such as the alteration of protein expression profiles. Here we present a study aimed at evaluating if a correlation exists between the treatment with GPAs and alterations in the two-dimensional electrophoresis (2DE) protein pattern obtained from the biceps brachii skeletal muscle from mixed-bred cattle. After image analysis and statistical evaluation, protein spots that differentiate between treated and control groups were selected for analysis by mass spectrometry. A set of proteins could be defined that accurately detect the use of glucocorticoids and β(2)-agonists as growth promoters through the changes caused in muscle differentiation. As a further validation, we repeated the analysis using an independent set of samples from a strain of pure-bred cattle and verified these proteins by Western blot analysis.
authors.affiliation: Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale delle Venezie, Viale dell'Università 10, 35020 Legnaro, Italy.
authors.forename: Roberto
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Stella
authors.forename: Giancarlo
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Biancotto
authors.forename: Morten
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Krogh
authors.forename: Roberto
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Angeletti
authors.forename: Giandomenico
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Pozza
authors.forename: Maria Catia
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Sorgato
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: James
authors.forename: Igino
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Andrighetto
mesh_terms: D045930:Anabolic Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*; D000818:Animals; D002417:Cattle / Q000378:metabolism*; D002976:Clenbuterol / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000652:urine; D003907:Dexamethasone / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000652:urine; D004958:Estradiol / Q000494:pharmacology; D015870:Gene Expression / Q000187:drug effects; D006133:Growth Substances / Q000494:pharmacology*; D008297:Male; D009124:Muscle Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D018482:Muscle, Skeletal / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000378:metabolism; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D053719:Tandem Mass Spectrometry; D057825:Two-Dimensional Difference Gel Electrophoresis
chemical_list: D045930:Anabolic Agents; D006133:Growth Substances; D009124:Muscle Proteins; D004958:Estradiol; D003907:Dexamethasone; D002976:Clenbuterol