Maintenance of an acid-base balance is essential for normal physiological processes in vertebrates. Freshwater fishes live in an aquatic environment with variable pH, and their buffering capacity for acid-base balance in body fluids is weak. Thus, after acid exposure, fishes secrete excess acid to prevent internal acidosis. Acid-secreting ionocytes present in the adult gills and embryonic skin are primarily responsible for acid secretion, and H+-ATPase and Na+/H+ exchanger 3 (NHE3) are the two main transporters responsible for apical acid secretion. Vitamin D is a well-known hormone involved in the maintenance of Ca2+ homeostasis and is suggested to be involved in acid-base regulation by modulating the activity and/or mRNA expression of NHE3 in mammalian models. It remains unclear whether vitamin D is involved in acid secretion in fishes. The aim of the present study was to use zebrafish as a model to determine whether vitamin D and its receptors influence acid secretion. Our results indicated that the levels of 1α, 25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 (1α,25(OH)2D3), the bioactive vitamin D, were significantly increased in 3 days post-fertilization zebrafish larvae after exposure to acidic freshwater (AFW, pH 4.0). Exogenous 1α,25(OH)2D3 (20 μg/L) incubation substantially enhanced the mRNA expression of acid-secreting transporters and acid secretion at the skin of the entire body and each H+-ATPase-rich cell (HRC), a type of acid-secreting ionocyte. Furthermore, the expression of vitamin D receptors (VDRs) was identified in HRCs of zebrafish. When both VDRa and VDRb were knocked down, acid secretion and the mRNA expression of acid-secreting transporters were significantly decreased. Moreover, double knockdown of VDRa/b prevented the increase in acid secretion induced by AFW and 1α,25(OH)2D3 treatment. This study is the first to indicate that vitamin D is involved in acid secretion in fish.

Freshwater teleosts frequently face the stress of varied ion and pH levels; therefore, they have developed related defense mechanisms to maintain the homeostasis of body-fluid ion and acid-base balance. The different subtypes of ionocytes expressed in the branchial epithelium of adult fish or the skin of larvae are the major sites for fish ion regulation. 1α,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 (1α,25(OH)2D3), the bioactive form of vitamin D, is a steroid hormone that is involved in the regulation of Ca2+ uptake and acid secretion in teleosts. Our results revealed that 1α,25(OH)2D3 levels were not changed in zebrafish larvae upon exposure to low Na+ freshwater compared to normal freshwater. In contrast, 1α,25(OH)2D3 levels were substantially higher in fish exposed to acidic and low Ca2+ freshwater than in those exposed to normal freshwater. Some hormones regulate ion regulation and acid secretion by modulating ionocyte differentiation and/or proliferation in teleosts; however, the role of vitamin D in this process is unclear. Zebrafish larvae were used as a model in the present study to explore the effect of vitamin D on ionocyte proliferation and/or differentiation. The present study indicated that 1α,25(OH)2D3 treatment increased the number of foxi3a-positive cells, ionocyte progenitors, and mature ionocytes. However, the number of P63-positive epidermal stem cells did not change in the zebrafish larvae treated with 1α,25(OH)2D3. These results revealed that vitamin D exerts a positive effect on the number of ionocytes by increasing the differentiation of ionocytes. Increased ionocyte differentiation by vitamin D is suggested to elevate the capacity of ion regulation and acid secretion in zebrafish to cope with external stress. The present findings indicate the role of vitamin D in the regulation of ionocyte differentiation and provide new insights into the mechanisms of stress adaptation of fish.