AgRP Neuron-Specific Ablation Represses Appetite, Energy Intake, and Somatic Growth in Larval Zebrafish

Neuronal circuits regulating appetite are dominated by arcuate nucleus neurons, which include appetite-promoting and -suppressing neurons that release the orexigenic neuropeptide agouti-related protein (AgRP) and anorexigenic neuropeptide pro-opiomelanocortin, respectively, to compete for melanocortin receptors to modulate feeding behavior. In this study, we expressed novel agrp promoters, including different lengths of the 5' flanking regions of the agrp gene (4749 bp) in the zebrafish genome. We used the agrp promoter to derive the enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP)-nitroreductase (NTR) fusion protein, allowing expression of the green fluorescence signal in the AgRP neurons. Then, we treated the transgenic zebrafish AgRP4.7^NTR (Tg [agrp-EGFP-NTR]) with metronidazole to ablate the AgRP neurons in the larvae stage and observed a decline in their appetite and growth. The expression of most orexigenic and growth hormone/insulin-like growth factor axis genes decreased, whereas that of several anorexigenic genes increased. Our findings demonstrate that AgRP is a critical regulator of neuronal signaling for zebrafish appetite and energy intake control. Thus, AgRP4.7^NTR can be used as a drug-screening platform for therapeutic targets to treat human appetite disorders, including obesity. Furthermore, the unique agrp promoter we identified can be a powerful tool for research on AgRP neurons, especially AgRP neuron-mediated pathways in the hypothalamus, and appetite.