2022 Fiscal Year Final Research Report
Establishment of a research foundation to improve the prognosis of brain development in preterm and low birth weight infants
| Project/Area Number |
21K19453
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| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Research (Exploratory)
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| Allocation Type | Multi-year Fund |
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| Review Section |
Medium-sized Section 52:General internal medicine and related fields
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| Research Institution | Kumamoto University |
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Principal Investigator |
Hatakeyama Jun 熊本大学, 発生医学研究所, 助教 (90404350)
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| Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha) |
土屋 英明 滋賀医科大学, 動物生命科学研究センター, 技術専門職員 (10378440)
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| Project Period (FY) |
2021-07-09 – 2023-03-31
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| Keywords | 脳発生 / グリア細胞 / 白質 / 早産児 / 低出生体重児 |
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| Outline of Final Research Achievements |
In this project, we have worked to establish a basis for research on primate brain development and to understand it at the molecular level, aiming to improve the prognosis for brain development in preterm and low birth weight infants. For understand the brain development process during the period corresponding to the time when preterm birth occurs, the histological analysis and three-dimensional MRI images analysis of developing brain were performed in the middle and late gestation period of macaque monkey. Next, we focused on glial cell expansion, a feature of brain development in mid-and late pregnancy in primates including human. As a results, we found several factors potentially involved in glial cell expansion in primate and have shown that at least one of them contributes glial cells expansion. Moreover, a collaborative research system with obstetrics and pediatrics was established to search for factors necessary for human brain development, which is reduced in preterm infants.
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| Free Research Field |
神経発生
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| Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements |
霊長類の脳発生研究は、まだ学問として発展途上である。霊長類胚の試料は希少かつ高額で研究対象とするにはハードルが高く研究推進の壁となっている。本研究で得られたカニクイザル胚の脳発生過程の基礎データは近いうちに公のデータベース化することを目指しており、霊長類研究の推進に大きく寄与できる。また、グリア細胞の増大に関わる分子メカニズムを一部を明らかにしつつあり、ニューロンに比べて理解が遅れているグリア細胞の視点から霊長類の脳発生の理解が進むことも学問的に重要である。さらに、臨床との研究体制も整えており、脳発生の基礎研究が新生児医学に応用される架け橋となる研究と位置付けられる。
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