Does salmon brain produce insulin?

To address the question whether fish brain can produce insulin, pink salmon (Oncorhynchus gorbusha) brains were extracted and processed according to the procedure developed for purification of pancreatic insulin (Rusakov and Bondareva, 1979). Biological and immunological activity of the resulting material was evaluated respectively by a cartilage sulfation assay and by radioimmunoassay homologous for salmon insulin. Preparations from salmon brain stimulated the [35S]sulfate uptake into salmon branchial cartilage with a potency comparable to pure mammalian or salmon insulins but lower than that of mammalian insulin-like growth factor (IGF-I). In contrast, only trace amounts of radioimmunoreactive insulin could be detected by homologous radioimmunoassay. To determine whether insulin mRNA was present in salmon brain, primers specific for salmon proinsulin and salmon prepro-IGF-I were designed to amplify corresponding cDNA regions by reverse transcriptase-PCR. Insulin mRNA was found only in the endocrine pancreas (Brockmann body) while IGF-I mRNA was detected in the brain, liver, and the Brockmann body. Our results suggest that in fish pancreatic-type insulin is most likely produced only in the endocrine pancreas and then transported to the brain through blood/cerebrospinal fluid system. However, it does not exclude a possibility that some yet unknown insulin-like substances may be expressed in the neural system of ectotherm vertebrates.