Development of a single-cell RNA sequencing method linked to spatio-temporal cellular characteristics

2020 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 18K19399
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Research (Exploratory)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: Medium-sized Section 47:Pharmaceutical sciences and related fields
• Research Institution: Osaka University
• Principal Investigator: Kasai Atsushi 大阪大学, 薬学研究科, 准教授 (40454649)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): 奥野 浩行 鹿児島大学, 医歯学域医学系, 教授 (80272417)
• Project Period (FY): 2018-06-29 – 2021-03-31
• Keywords: シングル細胞 / トランスクリプトーム解析 / 全脳 / ストレス

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Drug discovery for psychiatric disorders including depression and post-traumatic stress disorder has not been successful for many years. One of the reasons for this is thought to be the problem of omics research method, which is hypothesis-based analysis of local brain regions. Here, to identify therapeutic targets for psychiatric disorders, we established a methodology combining data-driven analysis of brain-wide activation mapping with single-cell transcriptome analysis linking the spatial information. Using this methodology, we revealed the molecular characteristics of an ensemble that are important for stress response, and found new candidate therapeutic target molecules for stress-induced mental disorders.

Free Research Field

神経薬理学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

最近盛んに実施されているシングル細胞RNAシークエンス法は、脳組織から神経細胞を分散させる必要があるため、遺伝子発現情報と空間情報が直接つながらず、細胞の種類や状態の大きな変化を捉える程度しかできていない。本研究によって確立した遺伝子発現情報と機能・空間情報をつなげたシングル細胞解析法は、これまで停滞してきた脳疾患の新規機序の創薬に繋がることが期待される。