Investigation of inflammation mechanisms via the stress-mediated endothelial cell activation

2016 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 15K19122
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Immunology
• Research Institution: Hokkaido University
• Principal Investigator: Arima Yasunobu 北海道大学, 遺伝子病制御研究所, 助教 (70724748)
• Project Period (FY): 2015-04-01 – 2017-03-31
• Keywords: ゲートウェイ反射 / 炎症 / ストレス

Outline of Final Research Achievements

In this research, we focused on the local inflammation induction mechanism which is induced by regional neural activation "gateway reflex" and analyzed how nerve activation by pain or stress influences the inflammatory pathology. Firstly, pain stimulus activates the sympathetic nerve innervated to the ventral vessels in spinal cord through the anterior cingulate cortex, followed by increment of chemokine expression from activated monocytes and endothelial cells and induction of acummulation of immune cells for relapse of disease. Furthermore, excessive stress caused by sleep disorder induces inflammation in the brain, and revealed that these inflammations eventually induce lethal gastrointesitnal failure by activating new neural circuits. These results explain the molecular mechanism of "disease is mind" and can be expected to be applied to new treatment methods.

Free Research Field

神経免疫