Immunohistochemical analysis in the periaqueductal gray matter under the deletion of mu-opioid receptor

Research Project

Project/Area Number	26893009
Research Category	Grant-in-Aid for Research Activity Start-up
Allocation Type	Single-year Grants
Research Field	Pain science
Research Institution	Tohoku University
Principal Investigator	Sasaki Kazumasu 東北大学, 加齢医学研究所, 助教 (80738948)
Project Period (FY)	2014-08-29 – 2016-03-31
Project Status	Completed (Fiscal Year 2015)
Budget Amount *help	¥2,600,000 (Direct Cost: ¥2,000,000、Indirect Cost: ¥600,000) Fiscal Year 2015: ¥1,300,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,000,000、Indirect Cost: ¥300,000) Fiscal Year 2014: ¥1,300,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,000,000、Indirect Cost: ¥300,000)
Keywords	オピオイド / 痛覚過敏 / 中脳中心灰白質 / グリア / 下行性疼痛抑制系 / μオピオイド受容体 / 疼痛 / 麻酔
Outline of Final Research Achievements	μ-opioid receptor knockout (MOP-KO) mice displayed baseline hyperalgesia like behavior and brain volume abnormalities in the periaqueductal gray matter (PAG) . Brains of several strains of mutant mice have been shown to exhibit structural changes, when examined carefully, in ways that can display correlations with behavioural consequences of genetic modifications. Immunohistochemistry to detect the differences in number of microglia, astrocyte and neuron in the PAG with specific markers, Iba-1, GFAP, and NeuN, respectively between genotypes. Large numbers of microglia, astrocyte, and neuron was observed in the organization into four parallel longitudinal columns in the PAG under the deletion of μ-opioid (MOP) receptor. This analysis may contribute to further understanding of the relationships between pathological degeneration in the PAG, behavioural alterations caused by MOP receptor deletion, and the effects of opiate agonists and antagonists on specific developmental processes.