2019 Fiscal Year Final Research Report
Expansion of the study of Oxytocin Receptor, which has diverse physiological functions, and establishment of a new agonist analysing system.
| Project/Area Number |
15H02442
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| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (A)
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| Allocation Type | Single-year Grants |
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| Section | 一般 |
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| Research Field |
Applied biochemistry
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| Research Institution | Fukushima Medical University (2018-2019)
Tohoku University (2015-2017) |
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Principal Investigator |
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| Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha) |
青木 淳賢 東北大学, 薬学研究科, 教授 (20250219)
山末 英典 浜松医科大学, 医学部, 教授 (80436493)
木村 正 大阪大学, 医学系研究科, 教授 (90240845)
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| Project Period (FY) |
2015-04-01 – 2019-03-31
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| Keywords | オキシトシン / オキシトシン受容体 / 向社会性行動 / 共感性行動 / 神経回路解析 / 下垂体後葉ホルモン / Prairie Vole / DREADDs |
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| Outline of Final Research Achievements |
Human being needs prosocial behaviors, such as sympathy, empathy and so on, and have a strong interest in them. Actions, that do not expect rewards and help others and give benefit to them, are called as social behaviors. The brain mechanism consisting of oxytocin (OXT), a nona peptide hormone in the brain, and its receptor OXTR, sustain prosocial behaviors. This study has focused on the elucidation of the neural mechanisms in brain to control social and prosocial behaviors, and aimed to clarify this system in molecular and physiological levels. In addition, the bone-forming activity of oxytocin, the possibility of OXT to induce autism when used in induced labor and so on, were also studied. We also screened for a novel substance retaining OXT-like activity, and successfully created a new experimental resource with high sensitivity and resolution in the study of neural mechanism in prosocial behaviors, by manipulating genes of Prairie Vole withCRISPR/Cas9 system.
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| Free Research Field |
神経科学、行動神経内分泌学、精神医学、分子生物学
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| Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements |
社会記憶形成時の、2神経核(LSとMeA)に分布するOXTR発現性神経の重要な働きを明らかとし、社会記憶形成時のOXT・受容体系に依存する脳内メカニズムの詳細を示した。これらは礎生物学的な意義を持つ一方、精神疾患(ASD)治療での新規標的神経核・回路を示し、精神医学領域で新しい戦略の可能性を示した。分娩直前の妊娠マウスへのOXT投与が仔マウスに異常な社会行動を誘導しなかった結果は、OXTの産科領域応用で安全性を確認でき、臨床医に安堵感を与える事が出来た。平原ハタネズミでの遺伝子操作法の樹立と遺伝子操作ハタネズミ作成によって、向社会性の脳内メカニズム研究へ有力なリソースを提供できた。
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