Molecular correlates of hypothalamic development in songbird ontogeny in comparison with the telencephalon

[en] Development of the songbird brain provides an excellent experimental model for understanding the regulation of sex differences in ontogeny. Considering the regulatory role of the hypothalamus in endocrine, in particular reproductive, physiology, we measured the structural (volume) and molecular correlates of hypothalamic development during ontogeny of male and female zebra finches. We quantified by relative quantitative polymerase chain reaction (rqPCR) the expression of 14 genes related to thyroid and steroid hormones actions as well as 12 genes related to brain plasticity at four specific time points during ontogeny and compared these expression patterns with the expression of the same genes as detected by transcriptomics in the telencephalon. These two different methodological approaches detected specific changes with age and demonstrated that in a substantial number of cases changes observed in both brain regions are nearly identical. Other genes however had a tissue-specific developmental pattern. Sex differences or interactions of sex by age were detected in the expression of a subset of genes, more in hypothalamus than telencephalon. These results correlate with multiple known aspects of the developmental and reproductive physiology but also raise a number of new functional questions. © 2020 Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology

Disciplines :

Neurosciences & behavior
Zoology

Author, co-author :

Majumdar, G.; Bio-Imaging Lab, Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium

Yadav, G.; Bio-Imaging Lab, Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium

Hamaide, J.; Bio-Imaging Lab, Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium

Coussement, L.; Biobix: Laboratory of Bioinformatics and Computational Genomics, Department of Data Analysis and Mathematical Modelling, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium

De Meyer, Tim

Verhoye, M.; Bio-Imaging Lab, Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium

Vanden Berghe, W.; Laboratory of Protein Chemistry, Proteomics and Epigenetic Signaling (PPES), Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium

Van Der Linden, A.; Bio-Imaging Lab, Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium

Balthazart, Jacques ; Université de Liège - ULiège > Département des sciences biomédicales et précliniques > Département des sciences biomédicales et précliniques

Language :

English

Title :

Molecular correlates of hypothalamic development in songbird ontogeny in comparison with the telencephalon

Publication date :

2020

Journal title :

FASEB Journal

ISSN :

0892-6638

eISSN :

1530-6860

Publisher :

John Wiley and Sons Inc.

Peer reviewed :

Peer Reviewed verified by ORBi

Available on ORBi :

since 09 June 2020

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