FAM19A5l affects mustard oil-induced peripheral nociception in zebrafish

Family with sequence similarity 19 (chemokine (C-C motif)-like), member A5 (FAM19A5) is a chemokine-like secretory protein recently identified to be involved in the regulation of osteoclast formation, post-injury neointima formation, and depression. Here, we identified FAM19A5l, an orthologous zebrafish gene that originated from a common ancestral FAM19A5 gene. FAM19A5l was expressed in trigeminal and dorsal root ganglion neurons as well as distinct neuronal subsets of the central nervous system of zebrafish. Interestingly, FAM19A5l+ trigeminal neurons were nociceptors that co-localized with TRPA1b and TRPV1, and responded to mustard-oil treatment. Behavioral analysis revealed that the nociceptive response to mustard oil decreased in FAM19A5l-knockout zebrafish larvae. In addition, TRPA1b and NGFa mRNA levels were down- and up-regulated in FAM19A5l-knockout and - overexpressing transgenic zebrafish, respectively. Together, our data suggested that FAM19A5l played a role in nociceptive responses to mustard oil by regulating TRPA1b and NGFa expression in zebrafish.