Neuropeptides and hormones in hypothalamus-pituitary axis of Chinese sturgeon (Acipenser sinensis)

• Published in: General and comparative endocrinology Vol. 330; p. 114135
• Main Authors: Xie, Yunyi, Xiao, Kan, Cai, Tianyi, Shi, Xuetao, Zhou, Lingling, Du, Hejun, Yang, Jing, Hu, Guangfu
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Elsevier Inc 01.01.2023
• Subjects: Animals; China; Chinese sturgeon; Fishes; Follicle Stimulating Hormone; Growth Hormone; Hormone; Hypothalamus; Luteinizing Hormone; Neuroendocrinology; Neuropeptide; Neuropeptides - genetics; Pituitary; Pituitary Gland; Pituitary Hormones; Pro-Opiomelanocortin; Prolactin; China; Hormone; Chinese sturgeon; Hypothalamus; Neuroendocrinology; Neuropeptide; Pituitary
• ISSN: 0016-6480; 1095-6840
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ygcen.2022.114135

•The microstructure of brain and pituitary were detected in Chinese sturgeon.•46 hypothalamus neuropeptides were dig out from Chinese sturgeon transcriptome data.•Six pituitary hormones (GH, SL, LH, FSH and α-MSH) were detected in Chinese sturgeon.•LH and FSH were secreted by different pituitary cells in Chinese sturgeon.•The gene copies generated in 3R genome duplication were not found in Chinese sturgeon. The hypothalamus and pituitary serve as important neuroendocrine center, which is able to secrete a variety of neuropeptides and hormones to participate in the regulation of reproduction, growth, stress and feeding in fish. Chinese sturgeon is a basal vertebrate lineage fish with a special evolutionary status, but the information on its neuroendocrine system is relatively scarce. Using the transcriptome data on the hypothalamus-pituitary axis of Chinese sturgeon as reference, we found out 46 hypothalamus neuropeptide genes, which were involved in regulation of reproduction, growth, stress and feeding. The results of sequence alignment showed that the neuroendocrine system of Chinese sturgeon evolves slowly, which confirms that Chinese sturgeon is a species with a slow phenotypic evolution rate. In addition, we also isolated six pituitary hormones genes from Chinese sturgeon, including reproductive hormones: follicle-stimulating homone (FSH) and luteinizing hormone (LH), growth-related hormones: growth hormone (GH)/prolactin (PRL)/somatolactin (SL), and stress-related hormone gene: proopiomelanocortin (POMC). Similar to teleost, immunostaining localization analysis in Chinese sturgeon pituitary showed that LH and FSH were located in the pituitary proximal pars distalis, SL was located in the pituitary rostral pars distalis, and POMC was located in the pituitary pars intermedia and pituitary rostral pars distalis. This study will give a contribution to enrich our information on the neuroendocrine system in Chinese sturgeon.