Developmental expression of three different prepro-GnRH (gonadotrophin-releasing hormone) messengers in the brain of the European sea bass (Dicentrarchus labrax).

In this study, we have analyzed the ontogenic expression of three gonadotrophin-releasing hormones (GnRH) systems expressed in the brain of a perciform fish, the European sea bass, using in situ hybridization. The riboprobes used correspond to the GnRH-associated peptide (GAP) coding regions of the three prepro-GnRH cDNAs cloned from the same species: prepro-salmon GnRH, prepro-seabream GnRH and prepro-chicken GnRH II. On day 4 after hatching, the first prepro-chicken GnRH-II mRNA-expressing cells appeared in the germinal zone of the third ventricle. They increased in number and size from 10 to 21 days, reaching at day 30 their adult final position, within the synencephalic area, at the transitional zone between the diencephalon and the mesencephalon. First prepro-salmon GnRH mRNA-expressing cells became evident on day 7 arising from the olfactory placode and migrating towards the olfactory nerve. On day 10, this cell group reached the olfactory bulb, being evident in the ventral telencephalon and preoptic area from days 15 and 45, respectively. Weakly labeled prepro-seabream GnRH mRNA-expressing cells were first detected at 30 days in the olfactory area and ventral telencephalon. On day 45, prepro-seabream GnRH mRNA-expressing cells were also present in the preoptic region reaching the ventrolateral hypothalamus on day 60. The results obtained in sea bass indicate that sGnRH and sbGnRH cells have a common origin in an olfactory primordium suggesting that both forms might arise from a duplication of a single ancestral gene, while cGnRH-II cells develop from a synencephalic primordium.