| Budget Amount *help |
¥4,940,000 (Direct Cost: ¥3,800,000、Indirect Cost: ¥1,140,000)
Fiscal Year 2016: ¥1,690,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,300,000、Indirect Cost: ¥390,000)
Fiscal Year 2015: ¥1,560,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,200,000、Indirect Cost: ¥360,000)
Fiscal Year 2014: ¥1,690,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,300,000、Indirect Cost: ¥390,000)
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| Outline of Final Research Achievements |
Continuously generated respiratory rhythm is essential to maintain life. However, the mechanism of respiratory rhythm generation has not been fully elucidated. Recent advances in glial physiology have indicated that glia cells especially astrocytes play important roles in various brain functions. To clarify the role of astrocytes in respiratory control, we analyzed activities of neurons and astrocytes in the ventrolateral medulla in the isolated brainstem spinal cord preparation of neonatal rats by calcium imaging, and found respiratory modulated astrocytes that were spontaneously oscillatory even in the absence of neuronal activity. In unanesthetized mice, ventilatory responses to hypoxia were attenuated in the presence of arundic acid that inhibits astrocytic activation. These findings suggest that astrocytes play vital roles in central respiratory control in particular in respiratory rhythm generation as pacemaker cells and in hypoxic respiratory responses as hypoxic sensor cells.
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