The regulatory mechanism of inflammation in chronic compressive myelopathy

2014 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 25560275
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Rehabilitation science/Welfare engineering
• Research Institution: National Rehabilitation Center for Persons with Disabilities
• Principal Investigator: OGATA Toru 国立障害者リハビリテーションセンター(研究所), 病院(併任研究所) 障害者健康増進・スポーツ科学支援センター, センター長 (00392192)
• Project Period (FY): 2013-04-01 – 2015-03-31
• Keywords: グリア細胞 / 炎症反応 / アストロサイト

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Inflammation has a crucial role in various types of disorders in central nervous system, including compression myelopathy. In this study we investigated the role of astrocytes in progression of inflammation.
Because of the lack of reproducibility in spinal compression model, we mainly used chemically induced demyelination model. We found that astrocytes are activated during inflammation, which is dependent on Erk2 signaling pathway activation. Furthermore, in vitro experiments suggested that CCL2, a chemokine, plays crucial role in activating astrocytes. We assume that signaling pathways in astrocytes are potential therapeutic target.

Free Research Field

神経科学