2012 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

Analyses on the mechanisms of the teratogenic effectsof GABAA receptor-targeting drugs by way of the perturbation of the regulation of the cellular properties of neural progenitor cells

Research Project

Project/Area Number	23791227
Research Category	Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
Allocation Type	Multi-year Fund
Research Field	Embryonic/Neonatal medicine
Research Institution	The University of Tokushima
Principal Investigator	TOCHITANI Shiro 徳島大学, 大学院・ヘルスバイオサイエンス研究部, 助教 (90418591)
Project Period (FY)	2011 – 2012
Keywords	先天異常学 / 神経前駆細胞 / 発生・分化 / 脳発達障害 / エタノール / GABA_A受容体
Research Abstract	Fetal exposure to GABA_A receptor agonists, which are used as anesthetic drugs etc., often causes the malformation of brain tissues and the impairment of brain function. The results of this study showed that fetal exposure to GABA_Areceptor agonists influence the transition from neuroepithelial cells to radial glia and the subtypes of neurons that the neural progenitors produce, suggesting that these effects underlie the functions of GABA_Areceptor-acting substances as teratogens for the central nervous system. Our results also showed that taurine might function as a principal ligand for GABA_A receptors in the early phase of neocortical development, implying that the developing neocortices are more sensitive to GABA_A receptor agonists at these stages when GABA is much less than taurine inthe developing neocortices.