PUBLICATION
The zebrafish: an emerging animal model for investigating the hypothalamic regulation of reproduction
- Authors
- Bassi, I., André, V., Marelli, F., Vezzoli, V., Merlo, G.R., Cariboni, A., Persani, L., Gothilf, Y., Bonomi, M.
- ID
- ZDB-PUB-160305-18
- Date
- 2016
- Source
- Minerva endocrinologica 41(2): 250-65 (Review)
- Registered Authors
- Gothilf, Yoav
- Keywords
- none
- MeSH Terms
-
- Animals
- Disease Models, Animal
- Gonadotropin-Releasing Hormone/physiology*
- Hypothalamus/physiology*
- Models, Animal
- Reproduction/physiology*
- Zebrafish/physiology*
- PubMed
- 26934719
Citation
Bassi, I., André, V., Marelli, F., Vezzoli, V., Merlo, G.R., Cariboni, A., Persani, L., Gothilf, Y., Bonomi, M. (2016) The zebrafish: an emerging animal model for investigating the hypothalamic regulation of reproduction. Minerva endocrinologica. 41(2):250-65.
Abstract
Gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) neurons have a pivotal role in the physiological functions of hypotahlamic-pituitary-gonadal (HPG) axis. The pulsatile releasing of GnRH hormone into the hypophyseal portal circulation at the median eminence represent the first domino in the HPG cascade of events that regulate the development, fertility and aging in all vertebrates. These neurons principally originate in the olfactory placode and migrate during early embryonal stages into the hypothalamus. Alterations in developmental processes or in the releasing of GnRH hormone lead to a rare and complex disorder of the reproductive axis called congenital hypogonadotropic hypogonadism (CHH). Genetic screening of human patients and the use of model systems have led to the identification of several genes involved in the CHH pathogenesis underlying its oligogenic nature. Nevertheless CHH remains, for a large cohort of patients, idiopathic and GnRH neurogenesis processes not fully understood. This is due to intrinsic difficulties that exist in the analysis of earliest embryonic developmental stages and in the methodologies developed to study the CHH-causing genes. In this regard, zebrafish embryos, on account of its external fertilization and development, allow a real-time analysis that could overcome some of the above mentioned limitations. Moreover the recent availability of several transgenic zebrafish reporter lines make it an excellent model for the study of the oligogenic mechanisms leading to CHH.
Genes / Markers
Expression
Phenotype
Mutations / Transgenics
Human Disease / Model
Sequence Targeting Reagents
Fish
Orthology
Engineered Foreign Genes
Mapping