In Vivo and In Vitro Expression of iC1, a Methylation-Controlled J Protein (MCJ) in Bovine Liver, and Response to In Vitro Bovine Fatty Liver Disease Model

Mitochondrial complex I inhibitor (iC1) is a methylation-controlled J protein (MCJ) that decreases cellular respiration by inhibiting oxidative phosphorylation. Recent rodent studies showed that loss or inhibition of iC1 was associated with preventing lipid accumulation. A common metabolic disorder of dairy cattle is a fatty liver disease (FLD), which often occurs during the periparturient period. In humans and rodents, iC1 is expressed in the liver and acts as a mitochondrial “brake”. However, iC1 expression in bovine liver and its possible role in FLD development have not yet been characterized. We hypothesized that iC1 is expressed in the bovine liver and that the expression of iC1 is correlated with FLD in periparturient dairy cattle. To test this hypothesis, we collected bovine liver tissue samples from an abattoir and isolated primary hepatic cells immediately following harvest. Utilizing an in vitro model of bovine FLD developed in our laboratory, we cultured primary hepatic cells in low-glucose DMEM supplemented with 10% FBS. The basal media was made to induce lipid accumulation and cytotoxicity in the primary liver cells with three treatments. To the basal media (control) we added 0.4 mM palmitate (treatment 1) or 20 ng/mL TNFα (treatment 2), or both 0.4 mM palmitate and 20 ng/mL TNFα (treatment 3). Consistent with our hypothesis, we present the novel characterization of iC1 expression in primary bovine liver cells cultured with or without the addition of lipotoxic factors made to emulate bovine FLD. We demonstrate both in situ and in vitro expression of iC1 in bovine liver and mRNA expression in hepatic cells and in the precipitates of conditioned media. The results of RT-qPCR, IHC, and western blot all demonstrated the expression of iC1 in bovine liver. In addition, we isolated precipitates of conditioned media further demonstrated iC1 expression by RT-qPCR. The transcript of iC1 tended to be more concentrated (4-fold; <i>p</i> > 0.05) in TNFα-treated conditioned media when compared with the control. Taken together, we present the novel finding that iC1 transcript and protein are expressed in liver tissue from dairy cattle, primary hepatic cells isolated from that liver tissue, and, finally, in the conditioned media derived from those cells. These novel findings and the prior findings on the role of iC1 in rodents and humans indicate that further investigation of the role of iC1 in the etiology and pathology of FLD in periparturient dairy cows is warranted.