RESUMO
Early weaning is usually applied to improve the reproductive efficiency of sheep in mutton production, while the development of rumen is of vital importance for sheep weaning age. Translationally controlled tumor protein (TCTP) is a highly conserved protein which participates in multiple tissue and organ development. Thus, we hypothesized that TCTP was involved in sheep rumen development. Histological analyses of sheep rumen epithelium showed that the epithelium formed tough shaped papillae without growing from birth to day 15 of age, after which it rapidly developed to functional epithelia on day 45 of age. We then found TCTP expressed in stratum basale, stratum spinosum and stratum granulosum of rumen epithelium. TCTP protein expression remained at a relative low level from day 0 to day 15 of age, it then significantly increased on day 30 (p < 0.05) and gradually decreased until day 60. Furthermore, to explore the role of TCTP in sheep rumen and its regulation, we found the ratio of Ki67 positive cell in stratum basale cells followed the similar pattern as the expression of TCTP. We also found the ratio of acetate:propionate in rumen fluid decreased from day 30 to day 60 of age (p < 0.05). To conclude, our data indicated that TCTP participated in rumen papillae growth by promoting rumen stratum basale cell proliferation.