title: Knocked down and out: PACAP in development, reproduction and feeding.
abstract: One approach to understanding the role of PACAP in vivo is to knockdown the translation of PACAP mRNA to protein or to knock out the PACAP gene by targeted disruption. In this paper, we review the effect of PACAP knockdown with morpholinos on early brain development in zebrafish. Also reviewed is the role of PACAP at several stages of reproduction as assessed in mice with a disrupted PACAP gene. New data are presented to analyze PACAP's action in energy homeostasis (body mass, food intake, endocrine parameters) using female PACAP-null mice. The evidence suggests PACAP is important for brain development in zebrafish and is required for normal reproduction, but not for body mass or food intake in mice maintained near thermoneutrality.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, University of Victoria, Victoria, BC V8W 3N5, Canada. nsherwoo@uvic.ca
authors.forename: Nancy M
authors.initials: NM
authors.lastname: Sherwood
authors.forename: Bruce A
authors.initials: BA
authors.lastname: Adams
authors.forename: Emma R
authors.initials: ER
authors.lastname: Isaac
authors.forename: Sheng
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: Erica A
authors.initials: EA
authors.lastname: Fradinger
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001921:Brain / Q000196:embryology* / Q000378:metabolism; D004435:Eating / Q000502:physiology; D005247:Feeding Behavior / Q000502:physiology; D017353:Gene Deletion; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; D051379:Mice; D051219:Pituitary Adenylate Cyclase-Activating Polypeptide / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology*; D012098:Reproduction / Q000502:physiology; D015027:Zebrafish
chemical_list: D051219:Pituitary Adenylate Cyclase-Activating Polypeptide