Elucidation of the Intracellular PGE2 receptor Function with Appliance of Optical Functional Nanoparticle

2017 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 15K14966
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Pharmacology in pharmacy
• Research Institution: Nihon University
• Principal Investigator: ITO Yoshihisa 日本大学, 薬学部, 教授 (50151551)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): 須川 晃資 日本大学, 理工学部, 准教授 (40580204) ; 小菅 康弘 日本大学, 薬学部, 准教授 (70383726)
• Project Period (FY): 2015-04-01 – 2018-03-31
• Keywords: PGE2 / 運動ニューロン / グラフェン / 神経突起 / ALS / 細胞分化

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) is a lipid mediator that plays important roles in various physiological and pathophysiological processes in the brain and spinal cord. We found that PGE2 promotes neurite outgrowth and suppresses cell proliferation by activating the PGE2 receptor EP2 subtype, and that the Gs protein-coupled cAMP-signaling pathway is involved in PGE2-induced differentiation of NSC-34 cells, a mouse motor neuron-like cell line. Moreover, we demonstrated the expression of EP2 in motor neurons is selectively increased in the lumbar spinal cord of ALS model mice at the symptomatic stage. Our in vitro approach using differentiated-NSC-34 cells has shown that PGE2 is involved in up-regulation of EP2 in these cells, and that PGE2-induced EP2 up-regulation in motor neurons may exacerbate the neuronal damage in ALS.

Free Research Field

薬理学