Overexpression of Spexin 1 in the Dorsal Habenula Reduces Anxiety in Zebrafish

Inyoung Jeong; Eunmi Kim; Jae Young Seong; Hae Chul Park

doi:10.3389/fncir.2019.00053

Overexpression of Spexin 1 in the Dorsal Habenula Reduces Anxiety in Zebrafish

Inyoung Jeong, Eunmi Kim, Jae Young Seong, Hae Chul Park

Department of Biomedical Sciences

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

20 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Spexin (SPX) is an evolutionarily conserved neuropeptide that is expressed in the mammalian brain and peripheral tissue. Two orthologs are present in the teleost, SPX1 and SPX2. SPX1 is involved in reproduction and food intake. Recently, SPX1 neurons have been found to be located in the specific nuclei of dorsal habenula (dHb) and to project into the interpeduncular nucleus (IPN), in which galanin receptor 2a/2b (GALR2a/2b) expression was also observed. This indicates that habenula SPX1 neurons may interact with GALR2a/2b in the IPN; however, the function of SPX1 in the dHb-IPN neuronal circuit remains unknown. To determine the role of SPX1 in the dHb-IPN neural circuit, we generated transgenic zebrafish overexpressing SPX1 specifically in the dHb. We found that transgenic zebrafish overexpressing SPX1 in the dHb had anxiolytic behaviors compared with their wildtype siblings. Furthermore, quantitative PCR revealed that mRNA expression of galr2a and galr2b in the IPN and serotonin-related genes in the raphe was upregulated in the brains of transgenic zebrafish. Taken together, our data suggest that SPX1 function in the dHb-IPN neural circuits is implicated in the regulation of anxiety behaviors via modulation of the serotoninergic system in zebrafish.

Original language	English
Article number	53
Journal	Frontiers in neural circuits
Volume	13
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.3389/fncir.2019.00053
Publication status	Published - 2019 Aug 14

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
Funding. This work was supported by Basic Science Research Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) funded by the Ministry of Education (NRF-2016R1D1A1B03935123) and by the Collaborative Genome Program of the Korea Institute of Marine Science and Technology Promotion (KIMST) funded by the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries (MOF; No. 20180430).

Publisher Copyright:
© Copyright © 2019 Jeong, Kim, Seong and Park.

Keywords

anxiety
dorsal habenula
serotonergic system
spexin 1
zebrafish

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Neuroscience (miscellaneous)
Sensory Systems
Cognitive Neuroscience
Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience

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title = "Overexpression of Spexin 1 in the Dorsal Habenula Reduces Anxiety in Zebrafish",

abstract = "Spexin (SPX) is an evolutionarily conserved neuropeptide that is expressed in the mammalian brain and peripheral tissue. Two orthologs are present in the teleost, SPX1 and SPX2. SPX1 is involved in reproduction and food intake. Recently, SPX1 neurons have been found to be located in the specific nuclei of dorsal habenula (dHb) and to project into the interpeduncular nucleus (IPN), in which galanin receptor 2a/2b (GALR2a/2b) expression was also observed. This indicates that habenula SPX1 neurons may interact with GALR2a/2b in the IPN; however, the function of SPX1 in the dHb-IPN neuronal circuit remains unknown. To determine the role of SPX1 in the dHb-IPN neural circuit, we generated transgenic zebrafish overexpressing SPX1 specifically in the dHb. We found that transgenic zebrafish overexpressing SPX1 in the dHb had anxiolytic behaviors compared with their wildtype siblings. Furthermore, quantitative PCR revealed that mRNA expression of galr2a and galr2b in the IPN and serotonin-related genes in the raphe was upregulated in the brains of transgenic zebrafish. Taken together, our data suggest that SPX1 function in the dHb-IPN neural circuits is implicated in the regulation of anxiety behaviors via modulation of the serotoninergic system in zebrafish.",

keywords = "anxiety, dorsal habenula, serotonergic system, spexin 1, zebrafish",

author = "Inyoung Jeong and Eunmi Kim and Seong, {Jae Young} and Park, {Hae Chul}",

note = "Funding Information: Funding. This work was supported by Basic Science Research Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) funded by the Ministry of Education (NRF-2016R1D1A1B03935123) and by the Collaborative Genome Program of the Korea Institute of Marine Science and Technology Promotion (KIMST) funded by the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries (MOF; No. 20180430). Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} Copyright {\textcopyright} 2019 Jeong, Kim, Seong and Park.",

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AU - Park, Hae Chul

N1 - Funding Information: Funding. This work was supported by Basic Science Research Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) funded by the Ministry of Education (NRF-2016R1D1A1B03935123) and by the Collaborative Genome Program of the Korea Institute of Marine Science and Technology Promotion (KIMST) funded by the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries (MOF; No. 20180430). Publisher Copyright: © Copyright © 2019 Jeong, Kim, Seong and Park.

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N2 - Spexin (SPX) is an evolutionarily conserved neuropeptide that is expressed in the mammalian brain and peripheral tissue. Two orthologs are present in the teleost, SPX1 and SPX2. SPX1 is involved in reproduction and food intake. Recently, SPX1 neurons have been found to be located in the specific nuclei of dorsal habenula (dHb) and to project into the interpeduncular nucleus (IPN), in which galanin receptor 2a/2b (GALR2a/2b) expression was also observed. This indicates that habenula SPX1 neurons may interact with GALR2a/2b in the IPN; however, the function of SPX1 in the dHb-IPN neuronal circuit remains unknown. To determine the role of SPX1 in the dHb-IPN neural circuit, we generated transgenic zebrafish overexpressing SPX1 specifically in the dHb. We found that transgenic zebrafish overexpressing SPX1 in the dHb had anxiolytic behaviors compared with their wildtype siblings. Furthermore, quantitative PCR revealed that mRNA expression of galr2a and galr2b in the IPN and serotonin-related genes in the raphe was upregulated in the brains of transgenic zebrafish. Taken together, our data suggest that SPX1 function in the dHb-IPN neural circuits is implicated in the regulation of anxiety behaviors via modulation of the serotoninergic system in zebrafish.

AB - Spexin (SPX) is an evolutionarily conserved neuropeptide that is expressed in the mammalian brain and peripheral tissue. Two orthologs are present in the teleost, SPX1 and SPX2. SPX1 is involved in reproduction and food intake. Recently, SPX1 neurons have been found to be located in the specific nuclei of dorsal habenula (dHb) and to project into the interpeduncular nucleus (IPN), in which galanin receptor 2a/2b (GALR2a/2b) expression was also observed. This indicates that habenula SPX1 neurons may interact with GALR2a/2b in the IPN; however, the function of SPX1 in the dHb-IPN neuronal circuit remains unknown. To determine the role of SPX1 in the dHb-IPN neural circuit, we generated transgenic zebrafish overexpressing SPX1 specifically in the dHb. We found that transgenic zebrafish overexpressing SPX1 in the dHb had anxiolytic behaviors compared with their wildtype siblings. Furthermore, quantitative PCR revealed that mRNA expression of galr2a and galr2b in the IPN and serotonin-related genes in the raphe was upregulated in the brains of transgenic zebrafish. Taken together, our data suggest that SPX1 function in the dHb-IPN neural circuits is implicated in the regulation of anxiety behaviors via modulation of the serotoninergic system in zebrafish.

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Overexpression of Spexin 1 in the Dorsal Habenula Reduces Anxiety in Zebrafish

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

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