Ontogeny of the cocaine- and amphetamine-regulated transcript (CART) neuropeptide system in the brain of zebrafish, Danio rerio
- Authors
- Mukherjee, A., Subhedar, N.K., and Ghose, A.
- ID
- ZDB-PUB-111027-37
- Date
- 2012
- Source
- The Journal of comparative neurology 520(4): 770-97 (Journal)
- Registered Authors
- Ghose, Aurnab
- Keywords
- teleost, developmental expression profiling, energy metabolism
- MeSH Terms
-
- Amino Acid Sequence
- Animals
- Antibodies, Monoclonal/analysis
- Brain Chemistry/physiology*
- Central Nervous System/growth & development
- Embryo, Nonmammalian/physiology
- Embryonic Development/physiology
- Female
- Fluorescent Antibody Technique
- Glucose/pharmacology
- Immunohistochemistry
- Larva/growth & development
- Larva/physiology
- Male
- Molecular Sequence Data
- Nerve Tissue Proteins/genetics
- Nerve Tissue Proteins/immunology
- Nerve Tissue Proteins/metabolism*
- Olfactory Pathways/embryology
- Olfactory Pathways/growth & development
- Retina/growth & development
- Retina/metabolism
- Zebrafish/physiology*
- PubMed
- 22009187 Full text @ J. Comp. Neurol.
The cocaine- and amphetamine-regulated transcript (CART) peptidergic system is involved in processing diverse neuronal functions in adult animals, including energy metabolism. Though widely distributed in the brain of a range of vertebrates, the ontogeny of this system has not been explored. The CART immunoreactive system in the zebrafish CNS was studied across developmental stages till adulthood. The peptide is expressed as early as 24 hours post-fertilization and establishes itself in several discrete areas of the brain and spinal cord as development progresses. The trends in CART ontogeny suggest that it may be involved in the establishment of commissural tracts, typically expressing early but subsequently decaying. CART elements are commonly overrepresented in diverse sensory areas like the olfactory, photic and acoustico-mechanosensory systems, perhaps indicating a role for the peptide in sensory perception. Key neuroendocrine centres like the preoptic area, hypothalamus and pituitary, conspicuously show CART innervations, suggesting functions analogous to those demonstrated in other chordates. Uniquely, the epiphysis also appears to employ CART as a neurotransmitter. The entopeduncular nucleus is a major CART containing group in the adult teleost forebrain that may participate in glucose sensing. This region responds to glucose in the 15-day larvae, suggesting that the energy status sensing CART circuits are active early in development. The pattern of CART expression in zebrafish suggests conserved evolutionary trends amongst vertebrate species. Developmental expression profiling reveals putative novel functions and establishes zebrafish as a model to investigate CART function in physiology and development.