| Budget Amount *help |
¥5,460,000 (Direct Cost: ¥4,200,000、Indirect Cost: ¥1,260,000)
Fiscal Year 2014: ¥1,300,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,000,000、Indirect Cost: ¥300,000)
Fiscal Year 2013: ¥1,820,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,400,000、Indirect Cost: ¥420,000)
Fiscal Year 2012: ¥2,340,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,800,000、Indirect Cost: ¥540,000)
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| Outline of Final Research Achievements |
A new N-acetyltransferase Shati/Nat8l was identified from the brain of psychosis animal model. Shati/Nat8l is the N-acetylaspartate (NAA) biosynthetic enzyme, and NAA is converted into N-acetylaspartylglutamate, a neurotransmitter for the metabotropic glutamate receptor type 3 (mGluR3).
In the present study, we investigated physiological function and clinical application of Shati/Nat8l. Our findings revealed that Shati/Nat8l in the dorsal striatum associated with both sociability and motivation by the indirect regulation of the serotonergic neuronal system. Alternatively, Shati/Nat8l in the nucleus accumbens served in emotion via the mGluR3-mediated inhibition of the dopaminergic neuronal system. Thus, Shati/Nat8l in the brain plays an important role in mental health. Moreover, our observations in human study suggested that the analysis of methylation levels on Shati/Nat8l promoter region in genomic DNA derived from peripheral blood was useful to make a diagnosis of mental disease.
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