Pathological relevance of spatial relationships between dermal macrophages and fibroblasts by new generation structome analysis

2014 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 24590265
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: General anatomy (including Histology/Embryology)
• Research Institution: Kurume University
• Principal Investigator: OHTA Keisuke 久留米大学, 医学部, 准教授 (00258401)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): RIKIMARU Yukiko 久留米大学, 医学部, 助教 (90368960) ; KOGA Noriyuki 久留米大学, 医学部, 講師 (30309851)
• Co-Investigator(Renkei-kenkyūsha): NAKAMURA Kei-ichiro 久留米大学, 医学部, 教授 (20172398)
• Research Collaborator: OKA Takeshi
• Project Period (FY): 2012-04-01 – 2015-03-31
• Keywords: 真皮 / 創傷治癒 / マクロファージ / 線維芽細胞 / FIB-SEM / 三次元再構築 / ストラクトーム

Outline of Final Research Achievements

In this study, we attempted to visualize detail spacial relationships between macrophages and fibroblasts in the dermis using recent advanced 3D reconstruction technic "FIB-SEM tomography". We showed the cells in normal skin frequently made contacts each other. The macrophage located near the fibroblast was wrapped by the cellular processes of the fibroblasts almost 1/3 of the total surface of it. On the other hand, the cells in the pathologic dermis tended to reduce the contact frequency than the normal dermis. Co-culture of fibroblast and macrophage also showed the close contacts between them, and promoted the gene expression which related to the intracellular signaling. These results suggest that the direct cell to cell contact between fibroblast and macrophage relates to some sort of tissue maintenance functions.

Free Research Field

解剖学