Oral sensory stimulation modulates feeding behavior and masticatory rhythm generation in the brainstem

2016 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 25293409
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B)
• Allocation Type: Partial Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Surgical dentistry
• Research Institution: Osaka University
• Principal Investigator: KOGO MIKIHIKO 大阪大学, 歯学研究科(研究院), 教授 (20205371)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): 田中 晋 大阪大学, 歯学部附属病院, 講師 (00367541) ; 辻 忠孝 大阪大学, 歯学研究科(研究院), 招聘教員 (50527231) ; 宮川 和晃 大阪大学, 歯学部附属病院, 医員 (50635381)
• Co-Investigator(Renkei-kenkyūsha): YAMAMOTO TAKASHI 畿央大学, 健康科学部, 教授 (60028793)
• Project Period (FY): 2013-04-01 – 2016-03-31
• Keywords: 口腔感覚

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Zinc-deficient (ZD) rats at 8 weeks age ate larger amount of pellets during daytime as well as nighttime together with short latency to initial eating and small number of bouts, indicating that the ZD rats seem to have a large appetite despite daytime. Interestingly, switching to normal diets (ND) in the ZD rats for one week caused a decrease of the amount of food intake and an extension of the latency to eat in the daytime, as shown in rats fed by ND. These results indicated that the effects of zinc-deficient feeding on the characteristics of feeding behavior are reversible. In addition, mesencephalic trigeminal neurons (MTNs) in ZD rats demonstrated depolarized resting membrane potential and decreased rheobase for eliciting single spike or spike train accompanying with hastened spike repolarization, which resulted in increased spike frequency and membrane excitabilities in comparison with MTNs in ND rats.

Free Research Field

口腔外科学