Milk Fat Globule Epidermal Growth Factor 8a Regulates Neurogenesis in Telencephalon and Affects Larval Behavior in Zebrafish.

Mfge8, a secreted glycoprotein, is a key molecule that mediates the phagocytosis of apoptotic cells. Previous research reported that Mfge8 is critical for the proliferation and differentiation of radial glial cells (RGCs) in the dentate gyrus of adult mice. The treatment of Mfge8 is also beneficial for the repair of central nervous system (CNS) injury after cerebral ischemia. This study aimed to investigate whether the expression of in zebrafish embryos was associated with the development of CNS and larval behavior. We found that zebrafish was initially expressed at 48 hpf, and its expression was gradually increased in the ventricular zone. Knocking down with antisense morpholino oligonucleotides impaired both spontaneous and photoinduced swimming locomotion in the behavioral tests. The neurogenesis analysis in telencephalon showed that morphants excessively promoted neural differentiation over self-renewal after RGCs division, and consequently depleted proliferative RGC population during early neurogenesis. Furthermore, downregulation of was shown to alter the expression patterns of genes associated with Notch signaling pathway. Our results demonstrated that is involved in the maintenance of the progenitor identity of RGCs in embryonic zebrafish brain through regulating Notch signaling pathway, thereby contributing to consistent neurogenesis and locomotor development.