2022 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

Establishment of the molecular mechanism for the indefinite complaint caused by tissue dysfunction caused due to vascular damage

Research Project

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Project/Area Number	21K19754
Research Category	Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Research (Exploratory)
Allocation Type	Multi-year Fund
Review Section	Medium-sized Section 59:Sports sciences, physical education, health sciences, and related fields
Research Institution	Tokyo Metropolitan Geriatric Hospital and Institute of Gerontology
Principal Investigator	Toyoda Masashi 地方独立行政法人東京都健康長寿医療センター(東京都健康長寿医療センター研究所), 東京都健康長寿医療センター研究所, 研究副部長 (50392486)
Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha)	松田明生国立研究開発法人国立成育医療研究センター, 免疫アレルギー・感染研究部, 室長 (10359705)
Project Period (FY)	2021-07-09 – 2023-03-31
Keywords	心臓 / 血管構造 / 加齢 / 糖鎖 / 炎症
Outline of Final Research Achievements	Aging is a risk factor for a variety of diseases. Although medically unexplained symptoms can present with a wide variety of subjective symptoms, many of them, such as shortness of breath and fatigue, are thought to be due to a decline in circulatory function. However, such symptoms are often associated with "aging," and it is difficult to determine whether they are a natural consequence of aging or a pre-symptomatic manifestation of the decline in circulatory function that leads to age-related diseases. To elucidate the molecular mechanism of the medically unexplained symptoms, we investigated the vascular structure of cardiac tissue. We found that "aging" causes changes in the peripheral vascular structure of cardiac tissue, and these changes are thought to induce a decline in tissue function. We also established an experimental system to evaluate vascular function in tissues, which paved the way for analyzing tissue dysfunction caused by blood vessels.
Free Research Field	血管生物学
Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements	不定愁訴は、自覚症状があるにも関わらず診断がつかず長い間苦しむことが少なくない。COVID-19においても、感染後の後遺症として不定愁訴同様の症状が出現し、有効な治療法がなく日々の生活に大きな影響が出ていることが社会的課題である。本研究では、こうした症状の要因に血管の炎症によるダメージがあると仮定し、組織機能へ影響を与える血管ダメージとは何かを検証した。本研究では「加齢」によって心臓組織の末梢血管構造は走行性に変化を認め、こうした変化が組織機能低下を誘引していると考えられた。今後さらに血管機能による組織機能低下のプロセスを解析することで、不定愁訴の機序解明へとつなげていきたい。