Search for a promoting factor of internal elastic lamina formation derived from endothelial cells

Research Project

Project/Area Number	26670096
Research Category	Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
Allocation Type	Multi-year Fund
Research Field	General anatomy (including histology/embryology)
Research Institution	Jikei University School of Medicine
Principal Investigator	MINAMISAWA Susumu 東京慈恵会医科大学, 医学部, 教授 (40257332)
Co-Investigator(Renkei-kenkyūsha)	NAKAMURA Tomoyuki 関西医科大学, 医学部, 教授 (20362527) AOKI Hiroki 久留米大学, 付置研究所, 教授 (60322244) MATSUSAKI Michiya 大阪大学, 工学(系)研究科, 助教 (00419467)
Project Period (FY)	2014-04-01 – 2015-03-31
Project Status	Completed (Fiscal Year 2014)
Budget Amount *help	¥3,640,000 (Direct Cost: ¥2,800,000、Indirect Cost: ¥840,000) Fiscal Year 2014: ¥3,640,000 (Direct Cost: ¥2,800,000、Indirect Cost: ¥840,000)
Keywords	血管 / 内弾性板 / 内皮細胞 / 動脈硬化 / 動脈瘤
Outline of Final Research Achievements	The internal elastic lamina in the artery is located between the endothelium and the layers of smooth muscle cells. The internal elastic lamina maintains elasticity of the vessel and functions as a barrier to protect diffusion of various materials. Disrupt of the internal elastic lamina causes atherosclerosis and aneurysm of the artery. However, the mechanism of the internal elastic lamina formation has not been fully understood. In this study we hypothesized that a factor derived from the vascular endothelium promotes formation of the internal elastic lamina by interacting with smooth muscle cells. Using a hierarchical cell manipulation technique, we fabricated vascular smooth muscle cells into three-dimensional cellular multilayers and then a single layer of endothelial cells were covered into them. We further searched for a factor that promotes elastic fiber formation.