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First published online July 25, 2005
Journal of Experimental Biology 208, 2951-2961 (2005)
Published by The Company of Biologists 2005
doi: 10.1242/jeb.01712

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Nitric oxide in control of luminescence from hatchetfish (Argyropelecus hemigymnus) photophores

Jenny Krönström^1,*, Susanne Holmgren¹, Fernand Baguet², Lorenza Salpietro³ and Jerome Mallefet²

¹ Department of Zoophysiology, Göteborg University, Box 463, SE 405 30 Göteborg, Sweden
² Laboratory of Marine Biology, Catholic University of Louvain, B-1348 Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium
³ Department of Biology and Marine Ecology, Messina University, 98166 Messina, Italy

^* Author for correspondence (e-mail: jenny.kronstrom{at}zool.gu.se)

Accepted 24 May 2005

Nitric oxide synthase-like immunoreactivity (NOS-LI IR) was detected by immunohistochemistry in ventral light organs of the mesopelagic fish, Argyropelecus hemigymnus. Strong NOS-LI IR was present in nerve fibres and in other cells central for production or modulation of light: immunoreactive fibres surrounded the photophores, and were also present in the filter area. Filter cells, particularly in the outer layers, showed strong IR throughout the cytoplasm. Pharmacological studies suggested that nitric oxide (NO) modulates adrenaline-stimulated light emission, and that the modulation is correlated to the ability of the light organ to respond to adrenaline. Adrenaline is known to produce two different types of light response in isolated photophores from Argyropelecus: a slow, long-lasting, high intensity response, or a fast and weak response of short duration. Incubation of photophores in the NO donors sodium nitroprusside or S-nitroso-N-acetylpenicillamine prior to adrenaline stimulation reduced the intensity of the strong and long-lasting type of response, but had little or even a potentiating effect on the weakly responding photophores. Hydroxylamine, which is converted to NO if catalase activity is present in the tissue, reduced the duration and the intensity of the adrenaline response in all tested organs. The NOS-inhibitor L-thiocitrulline potentiated the adrenaline response in the weakly responding organs; the weaker the adrenaline effect, the stronger the potentiation caused by L-thiocitrulline. The strongly responding organs were instead inhibited by L-thiocitrulline. The results suggest that NO has an important role in the control of light emission from Argyropelecus hemigymnus photophores. The cGMP analogue dibutyryl cGMP, the guanylate cyclase inhibitor ODQ and the phosphodiesterase inhibitor pentoxiphylline had no effect, indicating that the NO effect does not involve cGMP.

Key words: Argyropelecus hemigymnus, bioluminescence, teleost fish, nitric oxide, nitric oxide synthase

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