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Published February 10, 2016 | Published + Erratum
Journal Article Open

QRFP and Its Receptors Regulate Locomotor Activity and Sleep in Zebrafish

Abstract

The hypothalamus plays an important role in regulating sleep, but few hypothalamic sleep-promoting signaling pathways have been identified. Here we demonstrate a role for the neuropeptide QRFP (also known as P518 and 26RFa) and its receptors in regulating sleep in zebrafish, a diurnal vertebrate. We show that QRFP is expressed in ∼10 hypothalamic neurons in zebrafish larvae, which project to the hypothalamus, hindbrain, and spinal cord, including regions that express the two zebrafish QRFP receptor paralogs. We find that the overexpression of QRFP inhibits locomotor activity during the day, whereas mutation of qrfp or its receptors results in increased locomotor activity and decreased sleep during the day. Despite the restriction of these phenotypes to the day, the circadian clock does not regulate qrfp expression, and entrained circadian rhythms are not required for QRFP-induced rest. Instead, we find that QRFP overexpression decreases locomotor activity largely in a light-specific manner. Our results suggest that QRFP signaling plays an important role in promoting sleep and may underlie some aspects of hypothalamic sleep control.

Additional Information

© 2016 the authors. Beginning six months after publication the Work will be made freely available to the public on SfN's website to copy, distribute, or display under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Received July 7, 2015; revised Nov. 13, 2015; accepted Dec. 12, 2015. This work was supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health (NS-060996, NS-070911, and DA-031367), the Mallinckrodt Foundation, the Rita Allen Foundation, and the Brain and Behavior Research Foundation to D.A.P. We thank Alex Mack Cruz, Axel Dominguez, and Kenna Molinder for animal husbandry assistance; Viveca Sapin, Brett Niles, and Jae Chu for technical assistance; and Andres Collazo for imaging assistance. Author contributions: A.C., C.N.C., and D.A.P. designed research; A.C., C.N.C., E.A.M., S.K., R.S., and D.A.P. performed research; A.C., C.N.C., E.A.M., and D.A.P. analyzed data; A.C., C.N.C., and D.A.P. wrote the paper. A.C. and C.N.C. contributed equally to this work.

Errata

Erratum: Chen et al., QRFP and Its Receptors Regulate Locomotor Activity and Sleep in Zebrafish The Journal of Neuroscience, 11 May 2016, 36(19): 5429-5430; doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1200-16.2016

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Published - 1823.full.pdf

Erratum - 5429.full.pdf

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Created:
August 22, 2023
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October 23, 2023