Abstract：Castration has been used in livestock production widely as a mature technology, but little information is available about the effects of ovariectomy on the fatty acid composition which is regulated by lipid-metabolic genes and would potentially improve mutton flavor. The aim of this study was to explore the effects of ovariectomy on the levels of blood sugar, triglyceride and total cholesterol in serum, the fatty acid composition and fatty acid metabolism related genes expression in perirenal fat. Hybrid kid of Boer goat (Capra hircus) with similar body weight at about 5-month old were treated as the experimental animals to determine the levels of blood sugar, triglyceride and total cholesterol. Then the Agilent-6890N gas chromatograph was used to determine the composition of fatty acids and Real-time quantitative PCR (qRT-PCR) was used to detect the expression levels of acetly-CoA carboxylase (ACC), fatty acid synthase (FAS), lipoprotein lipase (LPL) and hormone sensitive lipase (HSL) genes in perirenal adipose. There was no statistical significant differences on the levels of blood sugar, triglyceride and total cholesterol in serum between Ovx and Con groups, and remained stable in the process of the whole test (P＞0.05). Significant decreases of the percentage of total saturated fatty acid (SFA) and 4 kinds of SFA (decanoic acid (C10∶0), pentadecanoic acid (C15∶0), palmitic acid (C16∶0) and lignoceric acid (C24∶0)) were observed in perirenal fat of ovariectomized goats compared with controls (P＜0.05 or P＜0.01). The differences of total mono unsaturated fatty acids (MUFA) and polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) between 2 groups were not significant, with rising trend in MUFA (P＞0.05), and the percentage of oleic acid (C18∶1) was significantly higher in Ovx group than that in Con group (P＜0.05). The relative expression mRNA levels of fatty acid metabolism related genes were corrected by glyceraldehyde-3-phosphatedehydrogenase (GAPDH). Ovariectomy increased mRNA expression levels of LPL gene significantly (P＜0.05) and increased the ACC and FAS genes very significantly (P＜0.01), but reduced the mRNA level of HSL gene significantly at the same time in perirenal fat (P＜0.05). The balances of blood sugar, triglyceride and total cholesterol in serum of ovariectomized goats were not influenced compared with control goats. Ovariectomy could reduce the percentage of total SFA by increasing the expression of LPL, ACC and FAS and decreasing HSL in perirenal fat, and improve mutton flavor finally. The above results provide theoretical basis for revelation of the improved effect of ovariectomy on the fatty acid composition in perirenal fat.
