TY - JOUR
T1 - 1-phenyl 2-thiourea (PTU) activates autophagy in zebrafish embryos
AU - Chen, Xiang Ke
AU - Kwan, Joseph Shiu Kwong
AU - Chang, Raymond Chuen Chung
AU - Ma, Alvin Chun Hang
N1 - Funding Information:
The zebrafish maintenance was supported by Fish Model Translational Research Laboratory (HTI, PolyU) and Faculty Core Facility (LKS Faculty of Medicine, HKU). Imaging was taken in University Research Facility in Life Sciences (ULS, PolyU) with the help from Dr. Michael YF Yuen and Dr. Clara HL Hung.
Funding Information:
This work is supported by the Health and Medical Research Fund (HMRF) [03143756] and [06173226] to ACM. XKC is supported by University Postgraduate Studentship from the Graduate School, The University fo Hong Kong.? The zebrafish maintenance was supported by Fish Model Translational Research Laboratory (HTI, PolyU) and Faculty Core Facility (LKS Faculty of Medicine, HKU). Imaging was taken in University Research Facility in Life Sciences (ULS, PolyU) with the help from Dr. Michael YF Yuen and Dr. Clara HL Hung.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
PY - 2021/5
Y1 - 2021/5
N2 - 1-phenyl 2-thiourea (PTU) is a Tyr (tyrosinase) inhibitor that is extensively used to block pigmentation and improve optical transparency in zebrafish (Danio rerio) embryo. Here, we reported a previously undescribed effect of PTU on macroautophagy/autophagy in zebrafish embryos. Upon 0.003% PTU treatment, aberrant autophagosome and autolysosome formation, accumulation of lysosomes, and elevated autophagic flux were observed in various tissues and organs of zebrafish embryos, such as skin, brain, and muscle. Similar to PTU treatment, autophagic activation and lysosomal accumulation were also observed in the somatic tyr mutant zebrafish embryos, which suggest that Tyr inhibition may contribute to PTU-induced autophagic activation. Furthermore, we demonstrated that autophagy contributes to pigmentation inhibition, but is not essential to the PTU-induced pigmentation inhibition. With the involvement of autophagy in a wide range of physiological and pathological processes and the routine use of PTU in zebrafish research of autophagy-related processes, these observations raise a novel concern in autophagy-related studies using PTU-treated zebrafish embryos. Abbreviations: 3-MA: 3-methyladenine; Atg: autophagy-related; BSA: bovine serum albumin; CHT: caudal hematopoietic tissue; CQ: chloroquine; GFP: green fluorescent protein; hpf: hour-post-fertilization; Map1lc3/Lc3: microtubule-associated protein 1 light chain 3; NGS: normal goat serum; PtdIns3K: class III phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase; PTU: 1-phenyl 2-thiourea; RFP: red fluorescent protein; Sqstm1: sequestosome 1; tyr: tyrosinase.
AB - 1-phenyl 2-thiourea (PTU) is a Tyr (tyrosinase) inhibitor that is extensively used to block pigmentation and improve optical transparency in zebrafish (Danio rerio) embryo. Here, we reported a previously undescribed effect of PTU on macroautophagy/autophagy in zebrafish embryos. Upon 0.003% PTU treatment, aberrant autophagosome and autolysosome formation, accumulation of lysosomes, and elevated autophagic flux were observed in various tissues and organs of zebrafish embryos, such as skin, brain, and muscle. Similar to PTU treatment, autophagic activation and lysosomal accumulation were also observed in the somatic tyr mutant zebrafish embryos, which suggest that Tyr inhibition may contribute to PTU-induced autophagic activation. Furthermore, we demonstrated that autophagy contributes to pigmentation inhibition, but is not essential to the PTU-induced pigmentation inhibition. With the involvement of autophagy in a wide range of physiological and pathological processes and the routine use of PTU in zebrafish research of autophagy-related processes, these observations raise a novel concern in autophagy-related studies using PTU-treated zebrafish embryos. Abbreviations: 3-MA: 3-methyladenine; Atg: autophagy-related; BSA: bovine serum albumin; CHT: caudal hematopoietic tissue; CQ: chloroquine; GFP: green fluorescent protein; hpf: hour-post-fertilization; Map1lc3/Lc3: microtubule-associated protein 1 light chain 3; NGS: normal goat serum; PtdIns3K: class III phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase; PTU: 1-phenyl 2-thiourea; RFP: red fluorescent protein; Sqstm1: sequestosome 1; tyr: tyrosinase.
KW - 1-phenyl 2-thiourea
KW - autophagy
KW - melanogenesis
KW - tyrosinase
KW - zebrafish embryo
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85083699558&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/15548627.2020.1755119
DO - 10.1080/15548627.2020.1755119
M3 - Journal article
C2 - 32286915
AN - SCOPUS:85083699558
SN - 1554-8627
VL - 17
SP - 1222
EP - 1231
JO - Autophagy
JF - Autophagy
IS - 5
ER -