Bending the Curves

Our backbone, or spine, is naturally curved, but painful deformations can develop – from scoliosis, where the spine twists to the side, to kyphosis and lordosis, identified by excessive curves in respectively the upper or lower parts of the spine. What causes these problems is poorly understood, but researchers working on zebrafish uncovered interesting processes involving molecules produced by neurons of the central nervous system, known as the urotensin peptides Urp1 and Urp2. Fish lacking both peptides, or their receptor Uts2r3, developed strong curves in the tail region of the spine, similar to lordosis (pictured, right, compared to typical zebrafish spines, left). Meanwhile, fish lacking only Urp1 or Urp2 developed milder curvatures, suggesting that these peptides can somewhat compensate for each other. Deformed spines developed in juvenile fish and worsened into adulthood, recalling spinal problems that begin in adolescence, so signalling through this urotensin pathway could be relevant to humans too.

Written by Emmanuelle Briolat

Emmanuelle Briolat

Writer

A researcher specialising in visual signals in Lepidoptera, camouflage and the effects of light pollution, Emmanuelle’s writing covers a range of topics, from biomedical research to children’s books about moth defences.

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• Image from work by Elizabeth A Bearce and colleagues
• Institute of Molecular Biology, Department of Biology, University of Oregon, USA
• Image originally published with a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
• Published in eLife, December 2023