RNAseq analysis on liver from pigs treated with testosterone and nandrolone esters: identification and field validation of transcriptional biomarkers
The use of anabolic steroid hormones as growth promoters in farm animals is banned in the European Union. However, among anabolic compounds, testosterone and nandrolone are still illegally administered to fattening pigs in the form of synthetic steroid esters. To tackle steroid misuse alternative approaches based on biological methods, able to investigate perturbations induced by these compounds at level of proteins, transcripts, metabolites is becoming recommendable. The aim of this work was to characterize by RNAseq coding mRNAs perturbations related to illicit administration of testosterone and nandrolone esters in fattening pigs. Twenty-seven clinically healthy 90-day-old pigs were randomly assigned to test (18 animals) and control (9 animals) groups. Nine of the eighteen animals from the test group were treated with an i.m. injections of 4 mg/kg b.w. of Sustanon (250 mg/ml). The other nine animals of the test group undergo i.m. injections of 5 mg/kg b.w. of Myodine (25 mg/ml). The animals were injected on day 4 after the start of the experiment and were euthanized on day 114 of the experiment. Liver samples were collected and stored in RNAlater solution for gene expression studies. Overall design: Sustanon treatment (8 animals), Myodin treatment (8 animals), untreated (8 animals)