Cell-photon engineering with ultra-narrow-band LEDs

• Project/Area Number: 17K18879
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Research (Exploratory)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Electrical and electronic engineering and related fields
• Research Institution: Kyoto University
• Principal Investigator: Fujita Shizuo 京都大学, 工学研究科, 教授 (20135536)
• Research Collaborator: Fujiwara Yasufumi
• Project Period (FY): 2017-06-30 – 2019-03-31
• Project Status: Completed (Fiscal Year 2018)
• Budget Amount: ¥6,370,000 (Direct Cost: ¥4,900,000、Indirect Cost: ¥1,470,000); Fiscal Year 2018: ¥3,510,000 (Direct Cost: ¥2,700,000、Indirect Cost: ¥810,000); Fiscal Year 2017: ¥2,860,000 (Direct Cost: ¥2,200,000、Indirect Cost: ¥660,000)
• Keywords: 超狭帯域光 / 発光ダイオード / 細胞 / 蛋白質 / 狭帯域光 / 光刺激 / 線維芽細胞 / コラーゲン / 希土類添加LED

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This research aimed at enhancing or suppressing cell activity by light irradiation. The interest was focused on generation processes of collagen in human fibroblasts, and the experiments have been conducted to prove the enhanced generation by light irradiation. Red light emitting diodes with different half-widths of the emission spectra were used as an irradiation source, and the amount of mRNAs and proteins which leads the collagen-generation was analyzed. The results indicated the enhanced generation of collagen under the light irradiation at the narrowed spectra having the half-widths of smaller than 20 nm. In addition, we proposed promising technology for narrow-band light sources contributing to future extension of this research.

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

細胞の活動が光照射により直接的な影響を受けることが示唆され、今後様々な細胞活動に対してそれを光照射によって制御する「細胞光工学(エンジニアリング)」の萌芽につながると考えられる。細胞と光のかかわりは、視神経のように光受容性を目的とする細胞に特有な減少と考えられてきたが、線維芽細胞のようにもともと光受容性を目的としない細胞にあっても光照射効果があることは学術的に新規性の高い知見である。細胞活動の制御というと、薬品や遺伝子の導入などが手段として行われているが、光照射というより自然な手法を用いることで、薬剤を使わない治療や細胞増殖などに社会的な貢献をなすことが期待される。