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.

羊肉生产中通常采用早期断奶来提高羊的繁殖效率，而瘤胃的发育对于羊的断奶日龄至关重要。翻译控制肿瘤蛋白（TCTP）是一种高度保守的蛋白质，参与多种组织和器官的发育。因此，我们假设 TCTP 参与了绵羊瘤胃的发育。绵羊瘤胃上皮组织学分析表明，从出生到15天，上皮形成坚韧的乳头状突起，45天后迅速发育为功能性上皮。然后我们发现TCTP在瘤胃上皮的基底层、棘层和颗粒层中表达。TCTP 蛋白表达从第 0 天到第 15 天保持在相对较低的水平，然后在第 30 天显着增加（p < 0.05）并逐渐下降，直到第60天。此外，为了探索TCTP在绵羊瘤胃中的作用及其调控，我们发现基层细胞中Ki67阳性细胞的比例与TCTP的表达模式相似。我们还发现瘤胃液中醋酸盐与丙酸盐的比例从第 30 天到第 60 天下降（p < 0.05）。总之，我们的数据表明，TCTP 通过促进瘤胃基底层细胞增殖参与瘤胃乳头生长。