Analysis of the effects of abnormal environments and drugs on the biological clock and its application to forensic diagnosis

2017 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 26293163
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B)
• Allocation Type: Partial Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Legal medicine
• Research Institution: Wakayama Medical University
• Principal Investigator: Kimura Akihiko 和歌山県立医科大学, 医学部, 博士研究員 (60136611)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): 野坂 みずほ 和歌山県立医科大学, 医学部, 助教 (00244731) ; 石田 裕子 和歌山県立医科大学, 医学部, 講師 (10364077) ; 近藤 稔和 和歌山県立医科大学, 医学部, 教授 (70251923)
• Project Period (FY): 2014-04-01 – 2018-03-31
• Keywords: biological clock / clock gene / cerebrum edema

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This study aims to analyze the effects of heat stroke, hypothermia and drugs affecting the central biological clock in the suprachiasmatic nucleus on peripheral biological clocks.
At the start point, we planned to analyze in the mouse model of heat stroke and hypothermia, but we could not obtain stable results. Therefore, we switched to water intoxication model which can induce cerebral edema reproducibly, and acetaminophen acute fulminant hepatic injury model for analysis of modulation of clock gene expression in the heart and kidney. We found that cerebral edema due to water poisoning and hepatic encephalopathy strongly alters the expression of the clock gene in the heart. Furthermore, we found that the biological clock in the heart and kidneys were strongly modulated by cecal ligation and puncture-induced sepsis.

Free Research Field

法医学