Budget Amount *help |
¥5,460,000 (Direct Cost: ¥4,200,000、Indirect Cost: ¥1,260,000)
Fiscal Year 2014: ¥1,040,000 (Direct Cost: ¥800,000、Indirect Cost: ¥240,000)
Fiscal Year 2013: ¥1,820,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,400,000、Indirect Cost: ¥420,000)
Fiscal Year 2012: ¥2,600,000 (Direct Cost: ¥2,000,000、Indirect Cost: ¥600,000)
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Outline of Final Research Achievements |
This study succeeded in developing a reliable immunoassay for measuring boar relaxin (RXN)-like peptide using a TR-FIA platform and demonstrated that circulating RXN-like peptide concentrations increased progressively in boar during sexual development. Additionally, RXN-like peptide secreted from Leydig cells showed to be transported into the seminiferous compartments at sufficient concentrations. RXN-like peptide revealed to bind with high affinity to, and activates its specific receptor, 85 kDa LGR8/RXFP2, which is expressed in boar meiotic and postmeiotic germ cells. Furthermore, the present study demonstrated that neutralization of RXN-like peptide led to increased germ cell apoptosis and substantially reduced sperm concentration, suggesting that RXN-like peptide functions as a germ cell anti-apoptotic factor in maintaining sperm production.
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