Differential expression of cadherins in the developing and adult zebrafish olfactory system

Cadherins are cell adhesion molecules that play important roles in development of a variety of tissues and maintenance of adult structures. Although cadherin expression has been studied in detail in the central nervous system of several vertebrate species, little is known of their distribution in the developing and adult olfactory structures, and there is no published report, to our knowledge, of cadherin expression in fish olfactory system. In this study, we examined expression patterns of three cadherins, cadherin-1 (E-cadherin), cadherin-2 (N-cadherin), and cadherin-4 (R-cadherin), in the olfactory system of developing and adult zebrafish by using both in situ hybridization and immunocytochemical methods. Cadherin-1 is detected in the newly formed olfactory placode, and its expression is maintained in the developing and adult olfactory epithelium and olfactory nerve. Cadherin-2 is expressed in the olfactory epithelium, olfactory nerve, and olfactory bulb of the embryonic and larval zebrafish, and its expression is reduced in the adult olfactory system. In contrast to the cadherin-1 and cadherin-2 expression, cadherin-4 is not found in the olfactory epithelium, but it is detected in the larval and adult olfactory bulb, in the olfactory tract, and its targets in the telencephalon. We hypothesize that the differential expression of these three cadherins in the developing zebrafish major olfactory structures reflects functionally different roles in the development of the vertebrate olfactory system.