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BOR - Papers in Press, published online ahead of print May 12, 2004.
Biol Reprod 2004, 10.1095/biolreprod.104.030072
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Submitted March 23, 2004
Returned for revision April 13, 2004
Accepted May 10, 2004

Neuroendocrinology


Social Regulation of the Electrical Properties of Gonadotropin-Releasing Hormone Neurons in a Cichlid Fish (Astatotilapia burtoni)

Anna K. Greenwood * and Russell D. Fernald

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: annakg{at}stanford.edu.

Abstract
Variation in reproductive capacity is common across the lives of all animals. In vertebrates, hypothalamic neurons that secrete gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) are a primary mediator of such reproductive plasticity. Since social interactions suppress gonadal maturity in the African cichlid fish, Astatotilapia (Haplochromis) burtoni , we investigated whether the electrical properties of GnRH neurons were also socially regulated. Adult A. burtoni males are either territorial (T) and reproductively active or non-territorial (NT) and reproductively regressed, depending upon their social environment. We compared the basic electrical properties of hypothalamic GnRH neurons from T and NT males using whole-cell electrophysiology in vitro. GnRH neurons were spontaneously active and exhibited several different activity patterns. A small fraction of neurons exhibited episodic activity patterns, which have been described in GnRH neurons from mammals. The type of activity pattern and spontaneous firing rate did not vary with reproductive capacity, however, several basic electrical properties were different. Neurons from T males were larger than those from NT males and had higher membrane capacitance and lower input resistance. In neurons from NT males, action potential duration was significantly longer and afterhyperpolarization characteristics were diminished, which led to a tendency for neurons from NT males to fire less rapidly in response to current injection. We predict this could serve to decrease GnRH release in NT males. These data are the first electrophysiological characterization of hypothalamic GnRH neurons in a non-mammalian species and provide evidence for several changes in electrical properties with reproductive state.

Key words: Behavior • Neuroendocrinology • Gonadotropin-releasing hormone


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