Ontogeny of cocaine- and amphetamine-regulated transcript peptide in brain of frog, Microhyla ornata

The cocaine- and amphetamine-regulated transcript (CART) peptide is widely distributed in the brains of adult vertebrates including amphibians. Several physiological roles of CART have been intensely investigated in mammals. Despite these studies, the expression of CART during development of brain has not been studied in amphibians. In the present study, distribution of CART was investigated during development in the post hatched stage 23 to premetamorphic stage 30 of frog Microhyla ornata. CART is expressed as early as in stage 23 in ventral thalamus and rhombencephalon. As development progressed, CART immunoreactivity was observed in the olfactory bulb, telencephalon, rhombencephalon and spinal cord in stage 24. At stage 25, the CART immunoreactivity was observed in the ventromedial thalamic nucleus, posterocentral thalamic nucleus, torus nucleus, central gray and inferior reticular nucleus. In stage 26, CART reactivity was seen in the medial septum, preoptic area, nucleus entopeduncularis, magnocellular nucleus, median eminence, optic tectum, hypophysis and cerebellum. Additionally, CART immunoreactivity was observed in the medial pallium, anterior commissure, nucleus infundibularis dorsalis, ventralis and raphe nucleus at stage 30. The occurrences of CART immunoreactivity at early stage of development suggest that the peptide may have a functional significance during development. The wider appearance of CART in the brain of tadpoles, M. ornata suggests that the peptide may act as a neurohormone during the ontogeny.