The zebrafish amyloid precursor protein-b is required for motor neuron guidance and synapse formation
- Authors
- Abramsson, A., Kettunen, P., Banote, R.K., Lott, E., Li, M., Arner, A., and Zetterberg, H.
- ID
- ZDB-PUB-130722-16
- Date
- 2013
- Source
- Developmental Biology 381(2): 377-88 (Journal)
- Registered Authors
- Kettunen, Petronella, Zetterberg, Henrik
- Keywords
- amyloid, Appb, motor neuron, development, zebrafish, locomotion
- MeSH Terms
-
- Zebrafish/embryology
- Zebrafish/genetics
- Zebrafish/metabolism*
- Animals
- Behavior, Animal
- Swimming
- Body Patterning
- Zebrafish Proteins/genetics
- Zebrafish Proteins/metabolism*
- Morpholinos/administration & dosage
- Electrical Synapses/metabolism*
- Electrical Synapses/pathology
- Motor Neurons/metabolism*
- Motor Neurons/pathology
- Muscle, Skeletal/metabolism
- Muscle, Skeletal/pathology
- Locomotion/physiology
- Embryo, Nonmammalian/metabolism
- Embryo, Nonmammalian/pathology
- Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental
- Embryonic Development
- Animals, Genetically Modified/embryology
- Animals, Genetically Modified/genetics
- Animals, Genetically Modified/metabolism
- Amyloid beta-Protein Precursor/genetics
- Amyloid beta-Protein Precursor/metabolism*
- Neurogenesis
- Gene Knockdown Techniques
- PubMed
- 23850871 Full text @ Dev. Biol.
The amyloid precursor protein (APP) is a transmembrane protein mostly recognized for its association with Alzheimer's disease. The physiological function of APP is still not completely understood much because of the redundancy between genes in the APP family. In this study we have used zebrafish to study the physiological function of the zebrafish APP homologue, appb, during development. We show that appb is expressed in post-mitotic neurons in the spinal cord. Knockdown of appb by 50–60% results in a behavioral phenotype with increased spontaneous coiling and prolonged touch-induced activity. The spinal cord motor neurons in these embryos show defective formation and axonal outgrowth patterning. Reduction in Appb also results in patterning defects and changed density of pre- and post-synapses in the neuromuscular junctions. Together, our data show that development of functional locomotion in zebrafish depends on a critical role of Appb in the patterning of motor neurons and neuromuscular junctions.