Fundamental chronic pain study by the investigation of the relationship between aging and oxidative stress

2019 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 17K18111
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Functional basic dentistry; Pain science
• Research Institution: Showa University
• Principal Investigator: Sato Hitoshi 昭和大学, 歯学部, 兼任講師 (00594954)
• Project Period (FY): 2017-04-01 – 2020-03-31
• Keywords: TRPV1 / 活性酸素種 / 三叉神経脊髄路核 / 三叉神経節

Outline of Final Research Achievements

We prepared a cell line that stably expresses EGFP-TRPV1 at various levels. This cell line is assuming that the expression level of transient receptor potential vanilloid 1 (TRPV1), which is involved in the reception of noxious stimuli in chronic pain diseases, is elevated on the cell membrane of sensory nerves.
It was found that the TRPV1-highly expressing cell line produces active oxygen by agonist stimulation.
In addition, when a pain stimulus is applied to the trigeminal nerve innervation area, transcription factors that rapidly respond to various stresses and c-Fos that shows neuronal excitability are expressed in the trigeminal ganglion where many cell bodies are present.

Free Research Field

慢性疼痛

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

活性酸素種は発現上昇したTRPV1のアゴニスト刺激により感覚神経から過剰に産生され、各組織の加齢に伴う抗酸化作用の低下により、周囲神経組織を障害することが予想される。超高齢化社会を迎えた我が国において高齢者の慢性疼痛への対応は医療経済の面からも急務であり、その病態機序とROSとの関係性が明らかとなったことにより、抗酸化作用を持つ薬剤や化合物の鎮痛効果について新たな知見が加えられた。これらの薬剤や化合物は生体安全性の高いものが多く，本研究結果は慢性疼痛疾患をかかえた高齢者にも安全に使用可能な薬物治療戦略確立への基盤となる．