Biological significance of receptors for mild electrical currents at 0.1 ms pulse width

2014 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 25670260
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Applied pharmacology
• Research Institution: Kumamoto University
• Principal Investigator: Kai Hirofumi 熊本大学, 大学院生命科学研究部(薬), 教授 (30194658)
• Project Period (FY): 2013-04-01 – 2015-03-31
• Keywords: 物理療法 / 糖尿病

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Electrical current at physiological strength has been applied as a therapeutic approach for various diseases. Several of our works showed that mild electrical stimulation (MES) at 0.1-ms pulse width has positive impact on organisms. But despite the growing evidence of the beneficial effects of MES, its effects on individual animals and the molecular underpinnings are poorly understood and rarely studied.we firstly and genetically demonstrated that MES exerts beneficial effects such as stress resistance and suppression of excess fat accumulation, via activation of LKB1-AMPK signaling pathway. In addition, we identified the receptor for the MES.

Free Research Field

薬理学、細胞生物学