Noradrenaline‐ and Melatonin‐Mediated Regulation of Pigment Aggregation in Fish Melanophores

The effects of melatonin and noradrenaline (NA) on bi‐directional melanosome transport were analysed in primary cultures of melanophores from the Atlantic cod. Both agents mediated rapid melanosome aggregation, and by using receptor antagonists, melatonin was found to bind to a melatonin receptor wh...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Pigment Cell Research
Main Authors: Aspengren, Sara, Sköld, Helén Nilsson, Quiroga, Gabriela, Mårtensson, Lena, Wallin, Margareta
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Wiley 2003
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Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1034/j.1600-0749.2003.00003.x
https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1034%2Fj.1600-0749.2003.00003.x
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1034/j.1600-0749.2003.00003.x
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Summary:The effects of melatonin and noradrenaline (NA) on bi‐directional melanosome transport were analysed in primary cultures of melanophores from the Atlantic cod. Both agents mediated rapid melanosome aggregation, and by using receptor antagonists, melatonin was found to bind to a melatonin receptor whereas NA binds to an α 2‐adrenoceptor. It has previously been stated that melatonin‐mediated melanosome aggregation in Xenopus is coupled with tyrosine phosphorylation of a so far unidentified high molecular weight protein and we show that although acting through different receptors and through somewhat different downstream signalling events, tyrosine phosphorylation is of the utmost importance for melanosome aggregation mediated by both NA and melatonin in cod melanophores. Together with cyclic adenosine 3‐phosphate‐fluctuations, tyrosine phosphorylation functions as a switch signal for melanosome aggregation and dispersion in these cells.