Functional Implications of RFRP-3 in the Central Control of Daily and Seasonal Rhythms in Reproduction
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Functional Implications of RFRP-3 in the Central Control of Daily and Seasonal Rhythms in Reproduction. Eleni Angelopoulou, Clarisse Quignon, Lance Kriegsfeld, Valerie Simonneaux To cite this version: Eleni Angelopoulou, Clarisse Quignon, Lance Kriegsfeld, Valerie Simonneaux. Functional Implications of RFRP-3 in the Central Control of Daily and Seasonal Rhythms in Reproduction.. Frontiers in Endocrinology, Frontiers, 2019, 10, pp.183. 10.3389/fendo.2019.00183. hal-02390075 HAL Id: hal-02390075 https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-02390075 Submitted on 17 Aug 2020 HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access L’archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est archive for the deposit and dissemination of sci- destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents entific research documents, whether they are pub- scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, lished or not. The documents may come from émanant des établissements d’enseignement et de teaching and research institutions in France or recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires abroad, or from public or private research centers. publics ou privés. REVIEW published: 10 April 2019 doi: 10.3389/fendo.2019.00183 Functional Implications of RFRP-3 in the Central Control of Daily and Seasonal Rhythms in Reproduction Eleni Angelopoulou 1,2, Clarisse Quignon 1, Lance J. Kriegsfeld 3 and Valérie Simonneaux 1* 1 Institut des Neurosciences Cellulaires et Intégratives (CNRS UPR 3212), Université de Strasbourg, Strasbourg, France, 2 Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience (NIN), Amsterdam, Netherlands, 3 Department of Psychology, Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, United States Adaptation of reproductive activity to environmental changes is essential for breeding success and offspring survival. In mammals, the reproductive system displays regular cycles of activation and inactivation which are synchronized with seasonal and/or daily rhythms in environmental factors, notably light intensity and duration. Thus, most species adapt their breeding activity along the year to ensure that birth and weaning of the offspring occur at a time when resources are optimal. Additionally, female reproductive activity is highest at the beginning of the active phase during the period of full oocyte maturation, in order to improve breeding success. In reproductive physiology, it is therefore fundamental to delineate how geophysical signals are integrated in the Edited by: hypothalamo-pituitary-gonadal axis, notably by the neurons expressing gonadotropin Takayoshi Ubuka, Waseda University, Japan releasing hormone (GnRH). Several neurochemicals have been reported to regulate Reviewed by: GnRH neuronal activity, but recently two hypothalamic neuropeptides belonging to the Iain J. Clarke, superfamily of (Arg)(Phe)-amide peptides, RFRP-3 and kisspeptin, have emerged as Monash University, Australia critical for the integration of environmental cues within the reproductive axis. The goal Greg Anderson, University of Otago, New Zealand of this review is to survey the current understanding of the role played by RFRP-3 in the *Correspondence: temporal regulation of reproduction, and consider how its effect might combine with that Valérie Simonneaux of kisspeptin to improve the synchronization of reproduction to environmental challenges. [email protected] Keywords: daily rhythm, seasonal rhythm, clock, melatonin, vasopressin, vasoactive intestinal peptide, Specialty section: kisspeptin, LH This article was submitted to Experimental Endocrinology, a section of the journal RFRP-3 NEURONS AS REGULATORS OF THE Frontiers in Endocrinology HYPOTHALAMO-PITUITARY GONADAL AXIS Received: 21 December 2018 Accepted: 05 March 2019 Functional Organization of the Hypothalamo-Pituitary-Gonadal Published: 10 April 2019 (HPG) Axis Citation: Mammalian reproduction is tightly controlled by a small set of neurons producing the Angelopoulou E, Quignon C, neuropeptide gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH). These cell bodies are concentrated in Kriegsfeld LJ and Simonneaux V specific hypothalamic areas [the preoptic area (POA), the vascular organ of the lamina terminalis (2019) Functional Implications of and, in non-rodent species, the mediobasal hypothalamus] and project principally to the median RFRP-3 in the Central Control of Daily and Seasonal Rhythms in eminence where they release GnRH into the anterior pituitary portal blood supply in a pulsatile Reproduction. manner (1). In turn, GnRH stimulates the secretion of the gonadotropins, follicle-stimulating Front. Endocrinol. 10:183. (FSH) and luteinizing (LH) hormones. FSH and LH enter the general circulation to regulate doi: 10.3389/fendo.2019.00183 gameto- and steroidogenesis, respectively, in the gonads. Frontiers in Endocrinology | www.frontiersin.org 1 April 2019 | Volume 10 | Article 183 Angelopoulou et al. RFRP-3 and the Rhythms of Reproduction Mechanisms regulating GnRH neurons are thought to involve mammalian reproduction and contributes to its synchronization upstream neuronal inputs. Glutamate and γ -aminobutyric acid with the time of the day and the year. fibers, located close to GnRH perikarya and axons, have been shown to stimulate and/or inhibit GnRH release (2–4) The RFRP-3 System Neuropeptide Y-containing fibers also contact a majority of The ortholog of RFRP-3 was originally discovered in birds, with GnRH neurons where they predominantly exert an inhibitory Tsutsui et al. identifying a novel (Arg)(Phe) hypothalamic peptide effect on GnRH release (5, 6). Recent studies, however, that inhibited pituitary gonadotropin secretion from cultured have highlighted an important role of two hypothalamic quail pituitary (15). Because this peptide selectively inhibited neuropeptides, kisspeptin and (Arg)(Phe) related peptide-3 the gonadotropins, without altering other pituitary hormones, (RFRP-3), in the regulation of GnRH neurons. Kisspeptin the authors named it gonadotropin-inhibitory hormone (GnIH). expressing neurons are located in two hypothalamic areas: Subsequent findings indicated that GnIH receptor is expressed the preoptic area, where they project to GnRH cell bodies to in quail pituitary (16, 17) and in vivo GnIH administration drive the GnRH surge in female mammals, and the arcuate decreases common α, LHβ, and FSHβ subunit expression nucleus, where they project principally to GnRH fiber terminals (16, 18). In birds, the GnIH precursor cDNA encodes one at the median eminence to drive pulsatile GnRH (7). RFRP- GnIH and two GnIH-related peptides (GnIH-RP1 and GnIH- 3 expressing neurons, mostly located in the dorsomedial RP2) (15, 19). In mammals, the homologous gene encodes hypothalamus (DMH), project to various neuronal populations three peptides [RFamide-related peptides (RFRP)], with RFRP- including GnRH and kisspeptin neurons, yet the effects of RFRP- 1 and−3 both being RFamide peptides, while RFRP-2 is 3 on reproduction seem to vary according to species, sex, and not (20). Since the initial discovery of these RFamide-related environmental conditions [(8–10) for reviews]. peptides in mammals, most findings in reproductive biology To maintain the reproductive axis within proper functioning have focused on RFRP-3 as the mammalian ortholog of GnIH. limits, sex steroids produced by the gonads feed back to As described further below, studies across mammalian species the pituitary and hypothalamus. In males, testosterone acts indicate a pronounced role for this neuropeptide in regulating to suppress GnRH and the gonadotropins through negative reproductive function. feedback whereas, in females, the feedback is more complex The receptor for GnIH/RFRP-3 is a G-protein coupled with estradiol (E2) having positive or negative feedback effects receptor (GPR), originally named OT7T022 (21), but now more depending on the stage of the ovarian cycle and its circulating commonly referred to by name of the receptor for which it was concentration. Specifically, during the follicular phase of the found to be identical, the formerly-orphaned GPR147. Around ovulatory cycle, low concentrations of E2 exert negative feedback, the same time as this discovery, two receptors for another whereas upon oocyte maturation, higher concentrations of E2 RFamide-peptide, neuropeptide FF, were identified and called exert positive feedback, triggering a large release of GnRH NPFFR1 and NPFFR2 (22). NPFFR1 was found to be identical to in the anterior pituitary portal blood supply which, in turn, GPR147, whereas NPFFR2 was identical to another GPR, GPR74. induces a surge of LH that initiates ovulation (11). Contrary GPR147 has a high affinity for GnIH/RFRP-3 whereas NPFF to early expectation, GnRH neurons do not appear to be the exhibits potent agonistic activity at GPR74 (16, 22–24). Together, directly responsive to E2 feedback as these cells do not express these findings revealed GPR147/NPFFR1 as the GnIH/RFRP-3 E2 receptors (ER)α and only express low levels of ERβ (10, receptor. GPR147 most-commonly couples to an inhibitory G 11). Likewise, mice with GnRH neuron-specific deletion of protein (Gαi), with GnIH/RFRP-3 suppressing cAMP activity ERβ do not exhibit any gross reproductive dysfunction (12). (21, 25). However, in some instances, GPR147 is coupled to Therefore, the central structures integrating sex steroid feedback Gαs or Gαq proteins (26), where this differential coupling may are upstream of GnRH neurons and evidence now indicates that account for disparity in the effects of RFRP-3. kisspeptin neurons (13, 14) and, to a less and unclear extent, As