Endocrine interaction of brain and gut that governs seawater adaptation in fishes

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

Marine teleosts drink copiously and absorb 90% of ingested seawater by the intestine to cope with osmotic dehydration. Thus, drinking and subsequent absorption of water by the intestine is essential to survive in hyperosmotic marine environment. The transcriptome analyses showed that the brain (regulatory site for drinking) and the gut (regulatory site for absorption) express several hormone genes and their expression is upregulated after transfer of eels to seawater. Furthermore, the brain and the gut interact with each other by regulating drinking and intestinal absorption through blood stream or via innervated nerves. We are currently performing tissue-specific knockdown of such important genes in medaka to evaluate their roles in seawater adaptation. This is the first study that demonstrate interactions between brain and gut via hormones for seawater adaptation.