Sensory neurons in the spinal cord of nominal female embryos in the marine turtle Lepidochelys olivacea respond to shifts in incubation temperature: implications for temperature dependent sex determination

Abstract

Gonadal determination in marine turtles depends on incubation temperature. The mechanisms that spark off this process remain unclear. Previously, we proposed that sensory nerves reaching the gonadal primordium in nominal female embryos of Lepidochelys (L) olivacea may sense and signal incubation temperature. These nerves could later trigger ovarian determination by releasing neurotransmitters in a code constructed based on the thermal information (Gutierrez-Ospina et al., Acetylcholinesterase-positive innervation is present at the undifferentiated stages of the sea turtle Lepidochelys olivacea embryo gonads: implications for temperature-dependent sex determination, J. Comp. Neurol. 410 (1999) 90-98). The hypothesis briefly described, however, has been recently refuted under weak theoretical grounds and experimental misinterpretations (see introduction). Here, we present preliminary results that show that nominal female embryos have sensory neurons located in the dorsal horn laminae I and II of the lumbar spinal cord that display increased c-Fos-like immuno-staining after being incubated either at 15°C or 50°C. Because these spinal neurons are the primary central target of dorsal root ganglion neurons that innervate the urogential crest, these observations keep open the possibility that gonadal sensory nerves indeed signal thermal information that could later be used to trigger or instruct ovarian specification in marine turtles.