Study on a cold sensitive signal that regulates brain function

2016 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 25430062
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Neurochemistry/Neuropharmacology
• Research Institution: Gunma University
• Principal Investigator: Sato-Hashimoto Miho (サトウミホ) 群馬大学, 大学院保健学研究科, 日本学術振興会特別研究員(RPD) (90381087)
• Co-Investigator(Renkei-kenkyūsha): OHNISHI Hiroshi 群馬大学, 大学院保健学研究科, 教授 (70334125)
• Project Period (FY): 2013-04-01 – 2017-03-31
• Keywords: タンパク質リン酸化 / 低温シグナル / 低体温 / 脳 / LPS / ミクログリア / 神経細胞

Outline of Final Research Achievements

SIRPα phosphorylation is induced by cold exposure. In this study, we tried to find out physiological roles of SIRPα in the regulation of brain function when animals became hypothermia. Among some methods to induce hypothermia, LPS treatments particularly resulted in the severe hypothermia and decreased physical activity in SIRPα knockout (KO) mice, that lasted more than 24 hours. In SIRPα KO mice, moreover, levels of gene expression in pro-inflammatory cytokines were elevated significantly after LPS treatments compared with those in wild type (WT) mice. Results of experiments using conditional KO mice in which a gene of SIRPα was deleted in macrophages or microglia shows the gene deletion in microglia was responsible for hypothermia in part but not in macrophages. These results indicate that microglial SIRPα inhibit cellar responses to LPS stimulation, which may regulate thermogenesis to maintain a constant body temperature.

Free Research Field

神経化学