1. lifelines
  2. How zebrafish sense calcium

How zebrafish sense calcium

By dr. dolittle on June 3, 2014.
Image from (NHGRI Press Photos). Image of a zebrafish larva from (NHGRI Press Photos).

Calcium is very important for the normal development, growth and survival of most vertebrates. Therefore, regulation of calcium intake and disposal is well-controlled. Mammals obtain most of their calcium from the diet, whereas fish obtain calcium by absorbing it from the external environment. For adults, this occurs in the gills and for larvae it is absorbed through the skin. What this means is that fish living in low calcium environments can acclimate by increasing the absorption of calcium from the water.

Dr. Kwong (Dept. of Biology, Univ. Ottawa, Canada) and colleagues published new research in the American Journal of Physiology showing that a calcium sensing receptor (CaSR) is able to detect variations in the environmental availability of calcium allowing zebrafish larva (Danio rerio) to alter calcium uptake. Four days after fertilization, the researchers acclimated some larva to a low calcium environment (25 uM calcium vs normal environmental concentrations of 250 uM calcium) and found that expression of the CaSR increased. When they experimentally reduced the expression of CaSR, the larvae lost their ability to regulate whole body calcium levels in a low calcium environment.

Source:

Kwong RWM, Auprix D, Perry SF. Involvement of the calcium-sensing receptor in calcium homeostasis in larval zebrafish exposed to low environmental calcium. American Journal of Physiology - Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology. 306: R211-R221, 2014. doi: 10.1152/ajpregu.00350.2013

Tags
Life Science
calcium
development
environment
larva
swim
zebrafish

More like this

Battling ion loss
Freshwater fish are in a constant battle with their environment when it comes to maintaining their electrolyte balance as they are continuously losing ions to the surrounding water. Therefore, they have to actively absorb ions such as sodium, calcium and chloride from the water (see figure below).…
Carbon monoxide lowers breathing rate in fish too
Image of zebrafish By Pogrebnoj-Alexandroff from Wikimedia Commons We tend to think of carbon monoxide (CO) only in terms of being a poisonous gas. The reason for its toxicity is due to its ability to bind really tightly to our hemoglobin molecules, which prevents oxygen from being able to bind…
Improving endurance exercise
Photo of zebrafish (Danio rerio) by Azul (Own work) [Copyrighted free use], via Wikimedia Commons We all know that aerobic exercise is good for us because it helps improve muscle function and our ability to move well. For fish, aerobic exercise helps animals escape predators, catch prey as…
Passing rewarming saves energy
Image of Gould's long-eared bat from http://www.wiresnr.org/Microbats.htmlImage by: Lib Ruytenberg I came across a neat study published recently in the American Journal of Physiology - Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology which examined how bats arouse from hibernation, a period…