Pre-pro-somatostatin (PSS-III) may have cortistatin (CTS)-like functions in fish

CANOSA LF; PETER R.E

Edmonton

Congreso; 45th annual meeting of the Canadian Society of Zoologist; 2006

Canadian Society of Zoologist

We analyzed in the goldfish brain the gene expression of pre-pro-somatostatin-III (PSS-III), structurally related to mammalian cortistatin (CTS), in relation to the daily light cycle. After acclimatization to a 16:8 dark-light cycle, the expression PSS-III (as well as PSS-I) was assayed in the telencephalon-preoptic (Tel-POA) and optic tectum-thalamus (OT-T) areas, at several times of the day. PSS-III gene expression correlates with the light cycle in both brain areas studied while the expression of PSS-I correlates with the light cycle only in OT-T. In Tel-POA, PSS-III reaches the minimum level at the beginning of the active phase and the maximum level late in the active phase, similar to CTS in rodents. Similar to mammals, these results suggest that PSS-III from the Tel-POA could be involved in the control of the activity cycles in goldfish. PSS-I and PSS-III from the OT-T might be involved in processing of visual inputs.