Meeting Abstract
Galanin is a conserved neuropeptide involved in parental care and feeding. Ablation of preoptic area (POA) gal neurons induces infanticide behaviors in mice, while activating POA gal neurons promotes parental care. Within the mammalian arcuate nucleus (Arc), gal acts to promote feeding. Mouthbrooding is an extreme form of parental care in which the parent carries the developing offspring in their buccal cavity for the duration of development. In the cichlid fish Astatotilapia burtoni, females brood their young for ~2 wks, during which time they refrain from eating. After release of juveniles, females perform maternal care by collecting them into their mouth when threatened. Maternal care is observed for several days post-release, but females will cannibalize their brood after ~5 days. As such, maternal care and feeding are integrally linked. To examine the role of gal in feeding and maternal care, we collected 5 groups of females: (1) mouthbrooding for 12 days; (2) starved for 12 days; (3) fed for 12 days; (4) females displaying post-release maternal care; and (5) females who cannibalized ~50% of their brood. In A. burtoni, gal is expressed in the POA and lateral tuberal nucleus (NLT, Arc homolog). Although the number of gal-expressing cells does not vary among conditions, activation of gal neurons is condition-dependent. Females displaying maternal care have more activated POA gal neurons. In contrast, fed females have high activation of NLT gal neurons, with little to no activation in brooding fish. Preliminary results suggest that females displaying infanticide have little to no activation of POA gal neurons. Overall, these data suggest a functional conservation of gal across vertebrate taxa with POA gal neurons promoting maternal care and NLT gal neurons promoting feeding.
