| Budget Amount *help |
¥4,810,000 (Direct Cost: ¥3,700,000、Indirect Cost: ¥1,110,000)
Fiscal Year 2019: ¥1,820,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,400,000、Indirect Cost: ¥420,000)
Fiscal Year 2018: ¥1,820,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,400,000、Indirect Cost: ¥420,000)
Fiscal Year 2017: ¥1,170,000 (Direct Cost: ¥900,000、Indirect Cost: ¥270,000)
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| Outline of Final Research Achievements |
Pacemaker cells driving spontaneous contractions are typically found in the muscular layer of most visceral hollow organs. However, the smooth muscle of guinea pig seminal vesicles (SVs) relies on the attached mucosa for generating electrical and Ca2+ activity, leading to spontaneous phasic contractions. This indicates that pacemaker cells reside in the SV mucosa.
In this study, we found that subepithelial interstitial cells (SICs) expressing platelet-derived growth factorα (PDGFRα) act as a pacemaker to drive SV smooth muscle contractions. SICs demonstrated spontaneous synchronous Ca2+ oscillations and corresponding electrical slow waves in the mucosal tissue. The spontaneous Ca2+ oscillations in SICs were synchronized with those in SV smooth muscle. The dye-coupling between SICs and SV smooth muscle indicates that they form a functional syncytium. SICs in SV mucosa are appeared to drive the spontaneous activity in SV smooth muscle by sending electrical signals.
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