Function of IDO in adult mice inner ear

• Project/Area Number: 15K20207
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Otorhinolaryngology
• Research Institution: Osaka University
• Principal Investigator: Hanada Yukiko 大阪大学, 医学部附属病院, 医員 (70734044)
• Project Period (FY): 2015-04-01 – 2017-03-31
• Project Status: Completed (Fiscal Year 2016)
• Budget Amount: ¥3,900,000 (Direct Cost: ¥3,000,000、Indirect Cost: ¥900,000); Fiscal Year 2016: ¥1,950,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,500,000、Indirect Cost: ¥450,000); Fiscal Year 2015: ¥1,950,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,500,000、Indirect Cost: ¥450,000)
• Keywords: 聴覚

Outline of Final Research Achievements

By analysing one of published cDNA library about inner ear, we focused on Epiphycan as enriched transcript in mice inner ear. We revealed Epiphycan mRNA was expressed more abundant and more specific in adult mice inner ear than IDO, that we focused on at first. Quantitative RT real-time PCR revealed that Epiphycan mRNA expression level was highest in the inner ear compared to another tissue. In situ hybridization revealed that Epiphycan mRNA were localized in supporting cells, inner sulcus cells and outer sulcus cells in adult mice inner ear. We generated Epiphycan knockout mice and determined that hearing thresholds of knockout mice were higher at the medium and high tone than those of wild type control mice. Epiphycan knockout mice cochlea seemed to have normal morphplogy.