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Gonadotropin-releasing hormone in cartilaginous fishes: structure, location, and transport

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Gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) is thought to play a fundamental role in the reproduction of cartilaginous fishes. The primary structures of the only form of GnRH in ratfish,Hydrolagus colliei, and one of four forms of GnRH in dogfish,Squalus acanthias, have recently been shown to be identical to a form originally isolated from birds (chicken GnRH-II). Phylogenetic studies indicate that this chicken GnRH-II molecule is the most highly conserved GnRH family member in vertebrates; it is present in animals from cartilaginous fishes to marsupials. However, the presence of four immunoreactive forms of GnRH inS. acanthias, but only one form inH. colliei suggests that the two subclasses of these species diverged a long time ago. Immunocytochemical localization of GnRH shows that it is found in the brains of all chondrichthyans examined to date. GnRH cell bodies and fibers were found in specific patterns throughout the brain in our studies of dogfish shark and black skate,Bathyraja kincaidii. The lack of immunoreactive GnRH fibers in the median eminence and the unique arrangement of the pituitary in Chondrichthyes suggest that transport of GnRH from the brain to the pituitary gonadotropes occurs in the systemic circulation. The use of this unconventional route is further supported by markedly higher levels of serum GnRH in ratfish compared with other vertebrates.

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  1. Biology Department, University of Victoria, Victoria, B.C., V8W 2Y2, Canada

    Nancy M. Sherwood

  2. The Clayton Foundation Laboratories for Peptide Biology, The Salk Institute, North Torrey Pines Road, La Jolla, CA, 10010, 92037, U.S.A.

    David A. Lovejoy

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Sherwood, N.M., Lovejoy, D.A. Gonadotropin-releasing hormone in cartilaginous fishes: structure, location, and transport. Environ Biol Fish 38, 197–208 (1993). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00842916

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