Establish of PET imaging system for analysis of adult neurogenesis

2021 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 19K22594
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Research (Exploratory)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: Medium-sized Section 52:General internal medicine and related fields
• Research Institution: Hamamatsu University School of Medicine
• Principal Investigator: Sato Kohji 浜松医科大学, 医学部, 教授 (80235340)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): 植木 孝俊 名古屋市立大学, 医薬学総合研究院(医学), 教授 (60317328)
• Project Period (FY): 2019-06-28 – 2022-03-31
• Keywords: 成体脳神経新生 / 精神疾患 / PET

Outline of Final Research Achievements

The involvement of adult neurogenesis in the pathophysiology of psychiatric disorders such as major depression and schizophrenia has recently reported. The necessity of technology for in vivo
imaging of adult neurogenesis in the brain is deeply recognized in early diagnosis of those kinds of incurable mental diseases, however, the technology has not established to date. In this study, PET imaging system based on newly synthesized chemical compound and its derivative PET trace, which specifically binds to CD133, expressing on the cellular membrane of neural stem cell, was established. By this PET imaging system, the dynamism of adult neurogenesis in the brain of major depression model mouse was clearly visualized in the living animal.

Free Research Field

神経科学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

これまで、精神神経疾患の脳病態と、成体脳神経新生動態の連関の詳細は不明であった。しかし最近、症状の進行や併発する痴呆症の病因に、成体脳における神経新生が関与していると考えられるようになった。こうした経緯を踏まえ、精神神経疾患における成体脳神経新生動態を探る機運が高まり、in vivoで成体脳神経新生をイメージングする技術の開発が俟たれていた。精神神経疾患において神経新生動態をin vivoで観察することにより、疾患の病態と成体脳神経新生動態の連関を緻密に解析することができると共に、精神神経疾患の治療に向けた新規の神経幹細胞を標的とする幹細胞治療の開発のための基礎的な知見が得られると考えられる。