title: Effects of metronidazole on proopiomelanocortin a gene expression in zebrafish.
abstract: The Metronidazole (MTZ), a widely used antibiotic for treating variations of infections, recently is applied in a powerful tool for specifically ablating cells or tissues when combined with E. coli nitroreductase (NTR). Although some undesired biological effects on eukaryote cells have been reported previously, the toxicological mechanism of MTZ has not been uncovered yet. In current study, we found that MTZ can induce proopiomelanocortin a (pomca) expression in zebrafish larvae. The effect of MTZ is in stage-sensitive and dose-dependent manner. A pro-proliferation activity of MTZ on pomca-expressing cells in the pituitary at larval stage was also observed. Furthermore, up-regulated levels of prolactin (prl) and glycoprotein hormone subunit α (gsuα) were also observed after the MTZ treatment. Therefore, utilizing our zebrafish as in vivo model, we concluded that MTZ can interfere the endocrine signals in the pituitary hormone genes expression. Our current results raised the cautions to the intensively application of MTZ in clinical practices and biomedical researches.
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Aquatic Biodiversity and Conservation of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan, Hubei, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Xiaoxia
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Cheng
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Aquatic Biodiversity and Conservation of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan, Hubei, China.
authors.forename: Xiaowen
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Aquatic Biodiversity and Conservation of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan, Hubei, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Dongliang
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Aquatic Biodiversity and Conservation of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan, Hubei, China.
authors.forename: Xia
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Jin
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Aquatic Biodiversity and Conservation of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan, Hubei, China.
authors.forename: Jiangyan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: He
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Aquatic Biodiversity and Conservation of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan, Hubei, China. Electronic address: zyin@ihb.ac.cn.
authors.forename: Zhan
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Yin
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D017209:Apoptosis / Q000187:drug effects; D015153:Blotting, Western; D049109:Cell Proliferation / Q000187:drug effects; D005434:Flow Cytometry; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental / Q000187:drug effects*; D008795:Metronidazole / Q000494:pharmacology*; D009928:Organ Specificity; D010902:Pituitary Gland / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000254:growth & development / Q000378:metabolism; D011333:Pro-Opiomelanocortin / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000235:genetics; D060888:Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D015027:Zebrafish / Q000235:genetics / Q000254:growth & development / Q000378:metabolism*; D029961:Zebrafish Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D012333:RNA, Messenger; D029961:Zebrafish Proteins; D008795:Metronidazole; D011333:Pro-Opiomelanocortin
keywords: Endocrine interference; Metronidazole; Pomca expression; Zebrafish