To Evaluate the Expression of Chemokine Receptor- Cxcr4 Gene as the Biomarker for Early Pregnancy Diagnosis in Murrah Buffalo (Bubalus Bubalis)

Abstract

Total 12 Murrah buffaloes were considered as the experimental animals divided into 2 groups of 6 animals each mentioned as treatment and control group. In the comparison, blood samples were collected on day 0,7,14, and 21 for the estimation of serum progesterone to distinguish the pregnancy between the groups of pregnant and non-pregnant animals. RNA was isolated from the whole blood samples collected on day 16 from 2 pregnant and one control animal and expression of the CXCR4 gene was evaluated by real-time PCR. Results of the study shows a significant variation of P < .001 on day 21 for the serum progesterone concentration between pregnant (6.15±0.40) and non-pregnant animals (0.61±0.25). On day 16th, expression of CXCR4 was found to be elevated in pregnant animals (T1- 8.51 folds; T2- 4.12 folds) as was found to be low in control animal (C1- 1-fold). Knowing the fact about the role of CXCR4 during the pre-implantation period and no evidence of this gene in the buffaloes was trace till now, this elevation in the gene expression of CXCR4 can be consider to be significant in pregnant as comparative to non-pregnant animals and can be consider as the marker for the early pregnancy diagnosis in buffaloes