Roles of ununiform cellular signaling during cardiac morphogenesis

Research Project

Project/Area Number	23790232
Research Category	Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
Allocation Type	Multi-year Fund
Research Field	General anatomy (including Histology/Embryology)
Research Institution	Nara Medical University
Principal Investigator	SAKABE Masahide 奈良県立医科大学, 循環器システム医科学, 助教 (00525983)
Project Period (FY)	2011 – 2012
Project Status	Completed (Fiscal Year 2012)
Budget Amount *help	¥4,420,000 (Direct Cost: ¥3,400,000、Indirect Cost: ¥1,020,000) Fiscal Year 2012: ¥1,950,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,500,000、Indirect Cost: ¥450,000) Fiscal Year 2011: ¥2,470,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,900,000、Indirect Cost: ¥570,000)
Keywords	細胞分化 / 組織形成 / 心臓発生学 / 発生遺伝学 / 心臓発生 / 心内膜床 / シグナル伝達 / Notch / EMT / Notch情報伝達系 / 心内膜床培養モデル
Research Abstract	Generation of endocardial cushion in the atrioventricular canal (AVC) and outflow tract (OFT) of developing heart is essential for subsequent chamber septation and valvulogenesis. During endocardial cushion formation, only a fraction of endothelialcells lining AVC and OFT are activated and undergo endothelial-mesenchymal transformation (EMT). In this study, we demonstrated that Notch signaling might play important roles in such differential cell-fate decision through its selective and ununiform activation in endothelial cells during EMT.