| Budget Amount *help |
¥2,700,000 (Direct Cost: ¥2,700,000)
Fiscal Year 2003: ¥1,400,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,400,000)
Fiscal Year 2002: ¥1,300,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,300,000)
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| Research Abstract |
The present study was made to clan fly the function of Merkel cells (MCs) in the Merkel cell-neurite complex distributing in the skin and oral mucosa. Since it has been shown that MCs contain various kinds of neurosubstances such as ATP, serotonin, VIP, CGRP, and met-enkephalin, the localizations of these substances and serotonin transporter in MC-neurite complexes were studied by immunohistochemistryi Furthermore, it has become clear that glutamate has a significant role in mechanical reception in MC-neurite complexes, localizations of glutamate transporter and expression of mRNA for mGIuR in N4C-neunite complexes were studied by imrnunohistochemistry and in situ hybridyzation. In results, P2Y2 receptor for ATP and receptors for VIP, CGRP and opioid were localized in MCs, whereas 5-HT1A and 1B receptors, but not 5-HT2 and 3 classes of receptors were localized on axon terminals connecting to MCs. These results suggest that serotonin acts as neuromodulator during reception of N4C-neurite complexes while ATP and neuropeptides act for regulation of th~ metabolism MCs by autocrine. Strong vesicular glutamate transporter-like imrnunoreactivity was localized on the axon terminals in MC-neurite complexes. On the other hand, the trial of the detection of rnRNA for glutamate receptors is not yet completed.
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