The morphological analysis of the enteric nervous system and regulation mechanisms for gut motilities with the three-dimensional microscopy

2019 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 17K09377
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Gastroenterology
• Research Institution: Nagoya University
• Principal Investigator: Tamada Hiromi 名古屋大学, 医学系研究科, 助教 (60712817)
• Project Period (FY): 2017-04-01 – 2020-03-31
• Keywords: 腸管神経系 / 微細構造 / 集束イオンビーム走査型電子顕微鏡 / FIB/SEM

Outline of Final Research Achievements

In this study, the morphological analysis for the enteric nervous system (ENS) was performed with a new electron microscopic analysis, a focused ion beam / scanning electron microscopy (FIB/SEM). With the FIB/SEM, we can obtain big volume and three-dimensional ultrastructural images. Especially, we focused on complicated structures of synaptic structures and their interactions with enteric glial cells surrounding them. This strategy made it possible to accelerate the understanding of basic morphological findings in order to explain a complicated system for controlling gut functions. Furthermore, high-pressure cryo fixations were performed in order to keep more native tissue structures, comparing with the normal chemical fixations. It could be a critical point how the native structures could be maintained during quantitative analyses with FIB/SEM data.

Free Research Field

細胞組織学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

本研究で研究対象としている腸管神経系は、脳や他の神経系と比べると比較的研究が進んでいない分野ではあるが、消化管の機能異常は人々の日常生活に身近な不調である。その制御機構は複雑であり、従来の研究法だけでは限界があるが、本研究課題で用いている新たな電子顕微鏡技術により、あらゆる機能理解のベースとなるべく、新たな形態学的基礎データを得ることができ、これまでの課題の解決の大幅な加速が期待される。