Meeting Abstract

P3.8  Monday, Jan. 6 15:30  Neural basis of feeding and reproduction in the maternal mouthbrooding fish, Astatotilapia burtoni PORTER, DT*; MARUSKA, KP; Louisiana State University; Louisiana State University dport14@tigers.lsu.edu

Reproduction in vertebrates is an important but energetically costly process, especially for females who invest in parental care. Reproductive and feeding processes are often tightly linked and individuals must constantly sense and integrate cues from both the internal body and the external environment to make critical decisions about when to eat and when to reproduce. Little is known, however, about which neurochemicals are involved in regulating a switch between parental care and feeding. The model cichlid fish Astatotilapia burtoni is ideal for studying the neural regulation of feeding and reproduction because females of this species undergo a two-week period of forced starvation while holding developing young inside their mouths. To determine which neuropeptides might be involved in regulation of neural circuits associated with mouthbrooding, we performed immunohistochemistry for appetite-stimulating peptides (neuropeptide Y, NPY; agouti-related protein, AgRP) and appetite-inhibiting peptides (cocaine and amphetamine-regulated transcript, CART; alpha-melanocyte stimulating hormone, alpha-MSH). We mapped the distribution patterns of each neuropeptide, and then compared cell sizes for each neuron population between gravid-feeding and mouthbrooding-parental states. Labeled neurons for all four neuropeptides were located in known feeding and reproductive brain regions similar to that observed in other fishes, including the preoptic-hypothalamic area and lateral tuberal nucleus of the hypothalamus. Ultimately, this work will provide crucial information on how the brain ‘switches’ an individual’s motivational state from feeding to parental care, which not only has broad implications for other fish species with parental care, but for all vertebrates.