Division of Genetics, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School , Boston, MA 02115, USA.
Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard , Cambridge, MA 02142, USA.
Biol Lett. 2024 Aug;20(8):20240288. doi: 10.1098/rsbl.2024.0288. Epub 2024 Aug 21.
Hepatic innervation regulates multiple aspects of liver function, repair and regeneration, and liver denervation is associated with higher rates of metabolic disorders in humans. However, the mechanisms regulating the development of the hepatic nervous system, as well as the role of the hepatic nervous system in liver development and maturation, are still largely unknown. Zebrafish are a widely used model of liver development and regeneration, but hepatic innervation in zebrafish has not yet been described in detail. Here, we examine the extent and developmental timing of hepatic innervation in zebrafish. We demonstrate that innervation is restricted to large bile ducts and blood vessels in both juvenile and adult zebrafish livers, as we find no evidence for direct innervation of hepatocytes. Innervation contacting the periphery of the liver is visible as early as 72 h post-fertilization, while intrahepatic innervation is not established until 21 days post-fertilization. Therefore, zebrafish hepatic innervation resembles that of previously examined fish species, making them an excellent model to investigate both the role of the hepatic nervous system during liver maturation and the mechanisms governing the elaboration of the intrahepatic nerve network between fish and mammals.
肝神经支配调节肝脏功能、修复和再生的多个方面，而肝去神经支配与人类代谢紊乱的发生率升高有关。然而，调节肝神经系统发育的机制，以及肝神经系统在肝发育和成熟中的作用，在很大程度上仍然未知。斑马鱼是肝发育和再生的广泛应用模型，但斑马鱼的肝神经支配尚未详细描述。在这里，我们检查了斑马鱼肝神经支配的程度和发育时间。我们证明，神经支配仅限于幼鱼和成年斑马鱼肝脏中的大胆管和血管，因为我们没有发现肝细胞直接受神经支配的证据。早在受精后 72 小时，就可以看到接触肝脏外围的神经支配，而直到受精后 21 天才建立肝内神经支配。因此，斑马鱼肝神经支配类似于先前检查的鱼类物种，使它们成为研究肝成熟过程中肝神经系统作用以及调节鱼类和哺乳动物之间肝内神经网络形成的机制的理想模型。
