Development of fatigue measurement method using herpes virus which can distinguish between mental fatigue and physical fatigue

2017 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 15K08216
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Environmental physiology(including physical medicine and nutritional physiology)
• Research Institution: Jikei University School of Medicine
• Principal Investigator: Kondo Kazuhiro 東京慈恵会医科大学, 医学部, 教授 (70234929)
• Project Period (FY): 2015-04-01 – 2018-03-31
• Keywords: 身体疲労 / 精神疲労 / 生理的疲労 / 病的疲労 / 運動負荷 / HHV-6 / HHV-7 / バイオマーカー

Outline of Final Research Achievements

People recover from physiological fatigue with rest. Pathological mental fatigue, however, greatly reduces quality of life and requires therapeutic interventions. It is therefore necessary to distinguish between the two but there has been no biomarker for this. We report on the measurement of salivary human herpesvirus (HHV-) 6 and HHV-7 as biomarkers for quantifying physiological fatigue. They increased with training and work and rapidly decreased with rest. However, HHV-6 and HHV-7 did not increase in obstructive sleep apnea syndrome, chronic fatigue syndrome and major depressive disorder, which are thought to cause pathological mental fatigue. Thus, HHV-6 and HHV-7 would be useful biomarkers for distinguishing between physiological and pathological mental fatigue. Our findings suggest a fundamentally new approach to evaluating fatigue and preventing fatigue-related diseases.

Free Research Field

疲労科学