%0 Journal Article
%T Apelin System in Mammary Gland of Sheep Reared in Semi-Natural Pastures of the Central Apennines
%A Cecilia Dall¡¯Aglio
%A Federico Maria Tardella
%A Francesca Mercati
%A Linda Petrucci
%A Margherita Maranesi
%A Paola Scocco
%A Rolando Pasquariello
%J Archive of "Animals : an Open Access Journal from MDPI".
%D 2018
%R 10.3390/ani8120223
%X Grazing activity is fundamental to natural grassland biodiversity preservation. Increasing summer aridity decreases the grassland pastoral value, negatively affecting animal morpho-functional features and production with detrimental effects on the extensive sheep farming sustainability. Since adipokines represent a link between a subject¡¯s energy availability and tissue metabolism, we investigated the presence and distribution of the system composed of the adipokine apelin and its receptor in the mammary gland of sheep during the period between maximum flowering and maximum dryness of the pasture, providing a group of sheep with food supplementation. This work represents a part of a wider study aimed to buffer the negative effects of increasing summer drought stress on farm income and to maintain the grassland biodiversity. Our findings improve the knowledge of apelin/receptor system function on the sheep mammary gland and this could be a useful tool in the farm management practices
%K apelin
%K apelin receptor
%K mammary gland
%K Ovis aries
%K Apennine grasslands
%K drought stress
%U https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6315652/