Elsevier

Developmental Biology

Volume 226, Issue 2, 15 October 2000, Pages 220-230
Developmental Biology

Regular Article
Programmed Cell Death in Zebrafish Rohon Beard Neurons Is Influenced by TrkC1/NT-3 Signaling

https://doi.org/10.1006/dbio.2000.9860Get rights and content
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Abstract

Rohon Beard (RB) cells are embryonic primary sensory neurons that are removed by programmed cell death during larval development in zebrafish. RB somatosensory functions are taken over by neurons of the dorsal root ganglia (DRG), suggesting that RB cell death may be triggered by the differentiation of these ganglia, as has been proposed to be the case in Xenopus. However, here we show that the timing of RB cell death correlates with reduced expression of trkC1, the receptor for neurotrophin NT-3, but not with the appearance of DRG, which differentiate only after most RB cells die. trkC1 is expressed in subpopulations of RB neurons during development, and cell death is initiated only in trkC1-negative neurons, suggesting a role for TrkC1 and its ligand, NT-3, in RB cell survival. In support of this, antibodies that deplete NT-3 induce RB cell death while exogenous application of NT-3 reduces death. In addition, we show that RB cell death can be prevented using a caspase inhibitor, zVADfmk, showing that during normal development, RB cells die by a caspase-dependent programmed cell death pathway possibly triggered by reduced signaling via TrkC1.

Keywords

Rohon Beard neurons
programmed cell death
TrkC1
NT-3

Cited by (0)

This paper is dedicated to the memory of Nigel Holder who died tragically during the course of this project.

2

Current address: Ontogeny, Inc., 45 Moulton Street, Cambridge, MA.

3

To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: [email protected].