Highly redundant neuropeptide volume co-transmission underlying episodic activation of the GnRH neuron dendron
- University of Otago, New Zealand
- University of Cambridge, United Kingdom
Abstract
The necessity and functional significance of neurotransmitter co-transmission remains unclear. The glutamatergic 'KNDy' neurons co-express kisspeptin, neurokinin B (NKB) and dynorphin and exhibit a highly stereotyped synchronized behavior that reads out to the gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) neuron dendrons to drive episodic hormone secretion. Using expansion microscopy, we show that KNDy neurons make abundant close, non-synaptic appositions with the GnRH neuron dendron. Electrophysiology and confocal GCaMP6 imaging demonstrated that, despite all three neuropeptides being released from KNDy terminals, only kisspeptin was able to activate the GnRH neuron dendron. Mice with a selective deletion of kisspeptin from KNDy neurons failed to exhibit pulsatile hormone secretion but maintained synchronized episodic KNDy neuron behavior thought to depend on recurrent NKB and dynorphin transmission. This indicates that KNDy neurons drive episodic hormone secretion through highly redundant neuropeptide co-transmission orchestrated by differential postsynaptic neuropeptide receptor expression at the GnRH neuron dendron and KNDy neuron.
Data availability
All data generated or analysed during this study are included in the manuscript .
Article and author information
Author details
Allan Edward Herbison
Funding
New Zealand Health Research Council
- Allan Edward Herbison
Wellcome Trust
- Allan Edward Herbison
The funders had no role in study design, data collection and interpretation, or the decision to submit the work for publication.
Ethics
Animal experimentation: All animal handling and experimental protocols were undertaken as approved by the Animal Welfare Ethics Committees of the University of Otago, New Zealand (96/2017) or the University of Cambridge, UK (P174441DE).
Copyright
© 2021, Liu et al.
This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License permitting unrestricted use and redistribution provided that the original author and source are credited.
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Highly redundant neuropeptide volume co-transmission underlying episodic activation of the GnRH neuron dendron
eLife 10:e62455.
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.62455
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