José Antonio Muñoz-Cueto

Universidad de Cádiz | UCA · Department of Biology

Previous studies have revealed the stimulatory and inhibitory actions of gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) and gonadotropin-inhibitory hormone (GnIH) on the control of reproduction in European sea bass (Dicentrarchus labrax) and other vertebrates, respectively. However, information on the possible interactions between GnRH and GnIH on cell sign...

Gonadotropin-inhibitory hormone (GnIH) was the first reported hypothalamic neuropeptide inhibiting reproduction in vertebrates. Since its discovery in the quail brain, its orthologs have been identified in a variety of vertebrate species and even protochordates. Depending on the species, the GnIH precursor polypeptides comprise two, three or four m...

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.3389/fendo.2023.1160378.].

Neuropeptide FF (NPFF) and gonadotropin-inhibitory hormone (GnIH) are thought to be paralogous, and a recent study has revealed that both NPFF and GnIH peptides can activate the GnIH receptor (GnIHR, also called NPFFR1) in the European sea bass (Dicentrarchus labrax). However, whether GnIH can bind to the NPFF receptor (NPFFR2) is still yet unknown...

Neurosteroids are involved in the regulation of multiple behavioral and physiological processes and metabolic activities in the vertebrate brain. However, central mechanisms of how neurosteroid synthesis is regulated is far to be understood. Gonadotropin-inhibitory hormone (GNIH) is a hypothalamic neuropeptide that negatively regulates gonadotropin...

Spexin (Spx) is a recently characterized neuropeptide implicated in multiple physiological processes in vertebrates, including reproduction, food intake, and regulation of anxiety and stress. Two orthologs (Spx1 and Spx2) are present in some nonmammalian vertebrates, including teleosts. However, information on the distribution of Spx in the brain a...

Results of previous studies provided evidence for the existence of a functional gonadotropin-inhibitory hormone (GnIH) system in the European sea bass, Dicentrarchus labrax, which exerted an inhibitory action on the brain-pituitary-gonadal axis of this species. Herein, we further elucidated the intracellular signaling pathways mediating in sea bass...

Visual photoreceptors in fish are usually adjusted to the light environment to ensure the highest efficiency and best adaptation. In the Senegalese sole, metamorphosis determines migration from pelagic to benthic habitats, with marked differences in both light intensity and spectrum. Here, we analysed the ontogeny of six visual photopigments, namel...

Visual photoreceptors in fish are usually adjusted to the light environment to ensure the highest efficiency and best adaptation. In the Senegalese sole, metamorphosis determines migration from pelagic to benthic habitats, with marked differences in both light intensity and spectrum. Here, we analysed the ontogeny of six visual photopigments, namel...

The field of fish gonadotropin‐releasing hormones (GnRH) is also celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. This review provides a chronological history of fish GnRH biology over the past five decades. It demonstrates how discoveries in fish regarding GnRH and GnRH receptor multiplicity, dynamic interactions between GnRH neurons, additional neuroe...

An important bottleneck in fish aquaculture research is the supply and maintenance of embryos, larvae, juvenile and adult specimens. In this context, cell lines represent alternative experimental models for in vitro studies that complement in vivo assays. This allows us to perform easier experimental design and sampling and avoid the sacrifice of a...

First year Biology taught by professors from the Department of Biology in the Marine and Environmental Sciences, Chemistry, Oenology, and Biotechnology Degrees at the University of Cadiz includes in the curriculum a series of topics that, although expanded and from other points of view, have already been partially addressed during High School. This...

In the fish retina, rods and cones are responsible for nocturnal vision and colour perception, respectively, and exhibit a repertoire of light-sensitive opsin photopigments that permits the adaptation to different photic environment. The metamorphosis of Senegalese sole determines a migration from pelagic to benthic environments, which is accompani...

The retinas of non-mammalian vertebrates have cone photoreceptor mosaics that are often organized as highly patterned lattice-like distributions. In fishes, the two main lattice-like patterns are composed of double cones and single cones that are either assembled as interdigitized squares or as alternating rows. The functional significance of such...

Fish have been of paramount importance to our understanding of vertebrate comparative neuroendocrinology and the mechanisms underlying the physiology and evolution of gonadotropin-releasing hormones (GnRH) and their genes. This review integrates past and recent knowledge on the Gnrh system in the fish model. Multiple Gnrh isoforms (two or three for...

Anthropogenic emissions of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere have generated rapid variations in atmospheric composition which drives major climate changes. Climate change related effects include changes in physico-chemical proprieties of sea and freshwater, such as variations in water temperature, salinity, pH/PCO2 and oxygen content, which can impa...

Gonadotropin-inhibitory hormone (GnIH) is a hypothalamic neuropeptide belonging to the RFamide peptide family that was first discovered in quail by Tsutsui and co-workers in the year 2000. Since then, different GnIH orthologues have been identified in all vertebrate groups, from agnathans to mammals. These GnIH genes synthesize peptide precursors t...

Gonadotropin-inhibitory hormone, GnIH, is named because of its function in birds and mammals; however, in other vertebrates this function is not yet clearly established. More than half of the vertebrate species are teleosts. This group is characterized by the 3R whole genome duplication, a fact that could have been responsible for the great phenoty...

The brain-pituitary-gonadal (BPG) axis regulates the activation of the endocrine machinery that triggers reproduction, which is a typical rhythmic process. In this research we focused on investigating the daily expression rhythms of the key reproductive genes involved in the BPG axis and the liver of zebrafish. To this end, male and female zebrafis...

Reproduction is regulated by the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axis. The first neuropeptide identified that regulates this function was the decapeptide gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH). Nowadays, in gnatostomates, a number of GnRH variants have been identified and classified into three different types: GnRH1, GnRH2, and GnRH3. Almost 30 years...

This research aimed at investigating the light synchronization and endogenous origin of daily expression rhythms of eight key genes involved in epigenetic mechanisms (DNA methylation and demethylation) in zebrafish gonads. To this end, 84 zebrafish were distributed into six tanks, each one containing 14 fish (7 males and 7 females). Animals were su...

Gonadotropin-inhibitory hormone (GnIH) is a hypothalamic neuropeptide that belongs to the RFamide peptide family and was first identified in the quail brain. From the discovery of avian GnIH, orthologous GnIH peptides have been reported in a variety of vertebrates, including mammals, amphibians, teleosts and agnathans, but also in protochordates. I...

Recently, gonadotropin-inhibitory hormone (GnIH) has emerged as an important regulator of reproduction in birds and mammals. This RFamide neuropeptide has neuromodulatory functions and controls the synthesis and/or release of gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) and gonadotropins. Although teleosts represent about half of all living vertebrates, s...

To help access and sharing of this article, Elsevier is providing us with the following personal article link, which will provide free access to our article, and is valid for 50 days, until April 03, 2017 https://authors.elsevier.com/a/1UYCD3v7jMkcoZ Anyone who clicks on the link until April 03, 2017, will be taken to the final version of this arti...

The seasonally changing photoperiod controls the timing of reproduction in most fish species, however, the transduction of this photoperiodic information to the reproductive axis is still unclear. This study explored the potential role of two candidate neuropeptide systems, gonadotropin-inhibitory hormone (Gnih) and kisspeptin, as mediators between...

The role of rearing temperature on fish development, sex differentiation and puberty has been largely addressed, but the impact of water temperature on the ontogeny of the main neuroendocrine systems controlling reproduction has received little attention. Gonadotropin-inhibitory hormone (Gnih) has been shown to act on gonadotropin-releasing hormone...

Gonadotropin-inhibitory hormone (GnIH) is a neurohormone that suppresses reproduction by acting at both the brain and pituitary levels. In addition to the brain, GnIH may also be produced in gonads and can regulate steroidogenesis and gametogenesis. However, the function of GnIH in gonadal physiology has received little attention in fish. The main...

Effect of sbGnih-1 and sbGnih-2 implants on locomotor activity of male sea bass. Locomotor actograms representing the recording of group activity of controls (A), sbGnih-1- (B) and sbGnih-2- (C) implanted fish. In the actograms, data have been double plotted (48-h scale) for convenient visualization. Activity was binned every 10 min and the height...

Gonadotropin-inhibitory hormone (GnIH) inhibits gonadotropin synthesis and release from the pituitary of birds and mammals. However, the physiological role of orthologous GnIH peptides on the reproductive axis of fish is still uncertain and their actions on the main neuroendocrine systems controlling reproduction (i.e., GnRHs, kisspeptins) have rec...

Gonadotrophin-inhibitory hormone (GnIH) inhibits gonadotrophin synthesis and release from the pituitary of birds and mammals. However, the physiological role of orthologous GnIH peptides on the reproductive axis of fish is still uncertain and their actions on the main neuroendocrine systems controlling reproduction (i.e., GnRHs, kisspeptins) have r...

Melatonin is an important component of the vertebrates circadian system, synthetized from serotonin by the successive action of the arylalkylamine N-acetyltransferase (Aanat: serotonin?N-acetylserotonin) and acetylserotonin-O-methyltransferase (Asmt: N-acetylserotonin?melatonin). Aanat is responsible for the daily rhythm in melatonin production. Te...

Gonadotropin-inhibitory hormone (GnIH) is a neuropeptide that suppresses reproduction in birds and mammals by inhibiting GnRH and gonadotropin secretion. GnIH orthologs with a C-terminal LPXRFamide (LPXRFa) motif have been identified in teleost fish. Although recent work also suggests its role in fish reproduction, studies are scarce and controvers...

Melatonin actions are mediated through G protein-coupled transmembrane receptors. Recently, mt1, mt2, and mel1c melatonin receptors were cloned in the Senegalese sole. Here, their day-night and developmental expressions were analyzed by quantitative PCR. These results revealed distinct expression patterns of each receptor through development. mel1c...

The European sea bass, Dicentrarchus Labrax, represents one of the most important species for marine aquaculture in Europe. The sea bass industry has strongly grown in the last decade, peaking at nearly 145,000 tonnes of total production in 2011 (FAO, 2009-2012). This remarkable production has been possible thanks to the large economical investment...

Biology of European Seabass presents up-to-date reviews on key topics of seabass biology, written by leading scientific experts with extensive knowledge of seabass as well as their respective field of expertise. The book covers the biology and ecology of the different sea basses and the latest findings in molecular biology, physiology, and beh

Studies on the developmental onset of the teleost circadian clock have been carried out in zebrafish and, recently, in rainbow trout and Senegalese sole, where rhythms of clock gene expression entrained by light-dark (LD) cycles have been reported from the first days post fertilization. However, investigations of molecular clock rhythms during cruc...

Several evidences supported the existence of melatonin effects on reproductive system in fish. In order to investigate whether melatonin is involved in the modulation of GnRH systems in the European sea bass, we have injected melatonin (0.5 µg/g body mass) in male specimens. The brain mRNA transcript levels of the three GnRH forms and the five GnRH...

Circadian rhythms are established very early during vertebrate development. In fish, environmental cues can influence the initiation and synchronization of different rhythmic processes. Previous studies in zebrafish and rainbow trout have shown that circadian oscillation of clock genes represents one of the earliest detectable rhythms in the develo...

Light plays a key role in the development of biological rhythms in fish. Recent research in Senegal sole has revealed that spawning and hatching rhythms, larval development, and growth performance are strongly influenced by lighting conditions. However, the effect of light on the daily patterns of behavior remains unexplored. Therefore, the aim of...

Kisspeptin is an important regulator of reproduction in many vertebrates. The involvement of the two kisspeptins, Kiss1 and Kiss2, and their receptors, Gpr54-1 and Gpr54-2, in controlling reproduction was studied in the brains of the modern teleosts, striped and hybrid basses. In situ hybridization and laser capture microdissection followed by quan...

An extensive network of endogenous oscillators governs vertebrate circadian rhythmicity. At the molecular level, they are composed of a set of clock genes that participate in transcriptional-translational feedback loops to control their own expression and that of downstream output genes. These clocks are synchronized with the environment, although...

The European sea bass expresses three GnRH (Gonadotrophin Releasing Hormone) forms that exert pleiotropic actions via several classes of receptors. The GnRH-1 form is responsible for the endogenous regulation of gonadotrophin release by the pituitary gland but the role of GnRH-2 and GnRH-3 remains unclear in fish. In a previous study performed in s...

The pineal organ of fish is a photosensitive structure that receives light information from the environment and transduces it into hormonal (rhythmic melatonin secretion) and neural (efferent projections/neurotransmitters) signals. In this study, we focused on this neural output. Thus, we performed a tract-tracing study using 1,1'-dioctadecyl-3,3,3...

The existence of two arylalkylamine N-acetyltransferase 1 (Aanat1) genes in the genome of some teleosts has been reported recently by in silico analysis. However, there are no data concerning the similarities and/or differences between them and many questions remain to be answered, such as their expression sites, development, or kinetics. Here, we...

Light plays a key role in the development of biological rhythms in fish. Previous research on Senegal sole has revealed that both spawning rhythms and larval development are strongly influenced by lighting conditions. However, hatching rhythms and the effect of light during incubation are as yet unexplored. Therefore, the aim of this study was to i...

The pineal organ of fish is a photosensory and neuroendocrine epithalamic structure that plays a key role in the temporal organisation of physiological and behavioural processes. In this study performed in the European sea bass, Dicentrarchus labrax, we provided an in-depth description of the macroscopic and microscopic anatomy of the pineal organ...

Melatonin is synthesized in the pineal organ and retina of vertebrates and exhibits a clear nocturnal rhythm of secretion. This hormone influences a number of important physiological processes acting through specific transmembrane G-protein-coupled receptors. Recently, we have cloned three different melatonin receptors in sea bass belonging to the...

With the exception of modern mammals, most vertebrate species possess two GnRH genes, GnRH-1 and GnRH-2. In addition, in many teleost fish, there is a third gene called GnRH-3. If the main function of GnRH-1 is unambiguously to stimulate gonadotropin release, the other two GnRH forms still lack clear functions. This is particularly true for the hig...

Melatonin receptors are expressed in neural and peripheral tissues and mediate melatonin actions on the synchronization of circadian and circannual rhythms. In this study we have cloned three melatonin receptor subtypes (MT1, MT2 and Mel1c) in the Senegalese sole and analyzed their central and peripheral tissue distribution. The full-length MT1 (14...

Several evidences supported the existence of melatonin effects on reproductive system in fish. In order to investigate whether melatonin is involved in the modulation of GnRH systems in the European sea bass, we have injected melatonin (0.5 µg/g body mass) in male specimens. The brain mRNA transcript levels of the three GnRH forms and the five GnR...

Melatonin is a much conserved feature in vertebrates that plays a central role in the entrainment of daily and annual physiological rhythms. Investigations aiming at understanding how melatonin mediates the effects of photoperiod on crucial functions and behaviors have been very active in the last decades, particularly in mammals. In fish a clear-c...

Thyroid hormone-induced metamorphosis seems to represent an ancestral feature of chrordates (urochordates, cephalochordates and vertebrates), but also of nonchordate animals. Although thyroid hormones and thyroid hormone receptor profiles during metamorphosis have been analyzed in different vertebrate taxa, including fish, developmental expression...