Evaluation of neuronal degeneration and activity towards early Parkinson's disease diagnosis

2015 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 26560202
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Biomedical engineering/Biomaterial science and engineering
• Research Institution: The University of Tokyo
• Principal Investigator: Jimbo Yasuhiko 東京大学, 工学(系)研究科(研究院), 教授 (20372401)
• Project Period (FY): 2014-04-01 – 2016-03-31
• Keywords: 脳・神経 / 神経科学 / 神経工学 / 細胞・組織 / ナノバイオ

Outline of Final Research Achievements

It is well-known that the main symptom of Parkinson's disease (PD) is a motor impairment. Actually, however, nerve degeneration started several years before the expression of the motor impairment. Thus the early diagnosis and treatment are important. In this study, we focused hippocampus (HC), which is related to anxiety and depression that is one of the early symptoms in PD, and dorsal raphe nucleus (DRN), which also degenerates at the early PD stage, contains serotonergic neurons, and innervates HC. HC and DRN tissue were taken from newborn Wistar rats and were co-cultured on microelectrode-array substrates. Typical synchronized bursts were observed in HC, whereas DRN showed only asynchronous activity. Frequency of the synchronized activity decreased in the co-culture system as compared with that in the HC single culture. Another finding was the relationship between pattern-separation capability of HC and enhanced neurogenesis, which might underlie early PD symptoms.

Free Research Field

神経工学，生体工学