Yin Danqing, Zhao Cheng
School of Biomedical Sciences, Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, Hong Kong; Laboratory of Data Discovery for Health Limited (D24H), Hong Kong Science Park, Hong Kong.
College of Life Science, Nanjing Normal University, Nanjing, Jiangsu, China.
Comp Biochem Physiol Part D Genomics Proteomics. 2025 Jun;54:101401. doi: 10.1016/j.cbd.2024.101401. Epub 2024 Dec 13.
Hypoxia disrupts multiple physiological processes, including metabolism, immunity, and reproduction in teleosts. The brain plays a critical role in adapting to environmental changes, regulating the endocrine system, and controlling reproduction. The present study investigated the sex-specific cerebral responses to chronic hypoxia through an integrated analysis of the transcriptome, proteome, and metabolome of yellow catfish. Common cerebral responses in both females and males included activation of the HIF signaling pathway, angiogenesis, and improved oxygen delivery by red blood cells. Reproductive defects were indicated by the downregulation of gh1, cga, and tshb in both sexes. Thyroid hormone homeostasis was more severely disrupted by hypoxia in females than in males, accompanied by a significant decrease in the level of VTG in the female brain. Damaged brain function was evidenced by the highly enriched pathways of "cytokine-cytokine receptor interaction" and "ECM-receptor interaction," and the blood-brain barrier (BBB) also appeared to be disrupted in female fish. In the male brain, reproductive-related genes or proteins, including prl, lepr, and AVP, were specifically decreased. Dysfunction in the male brain was also indicated by the enrichment of pathways such as "cytokine-cytokine receptor interaction" and "neuroactive ligand-receptor interaction," based on differentially expressed genes (DEGs) and proteins (DEPs). Additionally, chronic hypoxia appeared to inhibit cerebral amino acid metabolism in males. In summary, our results offer insight into understanding the sex-specific cerebral responses induced by chronic hypoxia in teleosts.
缺氧会破坏硬骨鱼的多种生理过程，包括新陈代谢、免疫和繁殖。大脑在适应环境变化、调节内分泌系统和控制繁殖方面起着关键作用。本研究通过对黄颡鱼的转录组、蛋白质组和代谢组进行综合分析，研究了慢性缺氧对雌雄鱼大脑的特异性反应。雌雄鱼共同的大脑反应包括低氧诱导因子（HIF）信号通路的激活、血管生成以及红细胞改善氧气输送。gh1、cga和tshb在两性中的下调表明存在生殖缺陷。与雄性相比，缺氧对雌性甲状腺激素稳态的破坏更为严重，同时雌性大脑中卵黄蛋白原（VTG）水平显著降低。“细胞因子-细胞因子受体相互作用”和“细胞外基质-受体相互作用”等通路高度富集，证明大脑功能受损，并且雌性鱼的血脑屏障（BBB）似乎也受到了破坏。在雄性大脑中，包括prl、lepr和精氨酸加压素（AVP）在内的与生殖相关的基因或蛋白质特异性减少。基于差异表达基因（DEG）和差异表达蛋白质（DEP），“细胞因子-细胞因子受体相互作用”和“神经活性配体-受体相互作用”等通路的富集也表明雄性大脑存在功能障碍。此外，慢性缺氧似乎会抑制雄性大脑中的氨基酸代谢。总之，我们的研究结果有助于深入了解硬骨鱼中慢性缺氧诱导的性别特异性大脑反应。
