2012 Fiscal Year Final Research Report
Astrocytes drive respiratory rhythm testing a new paradigm
| Project/Area Number |
23650218
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| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
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| Allocation Type | Multi-year Fund |
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| Research Field |
Fusional basic brain science
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| Research Institution | Hyogo Medical University |
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Principal Investigator |
OKU Yoshitaka 兵庫医科大学, 医学部, 教授 (20252512)
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| Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha) |
OKADA Yasumasa 独立行政法人国立病院機構村山医療センター(臨床研究センター), 内科, 医長 (80160688)
HIRATA Yutaka 兵庫医科大学, 医学部, 講師 (10441247)
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| Co-Investigator(Renkei-kenkyūsha) |
IKEGAYA Yuji 東京大学, 薬学系研究科(研究院), 准教授 (10302613)
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| Project Period (FY) |
2011 – 2012
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| Keywords | ニューロングリア相互作用 |
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| Research Abstract |
The inspiratory activity originates from a medullary region called the pre-Botzinger complex (preBotC). Traditionally, it has been hypothesized that the respiratory rhythm is generated by the preBotC neurons. Glial cells, another major cellular component of the brain, are thought to maintain extracellular environment around neurons, playing less important roles on the respiratory rhythm generation. In the present study, we discovered astrocytes (a kind of glial cell) whose activity preceded inspiratory neuronal activity. After the application of tetrodotoxin, which suppresses only neuronal activity, respiratory neuronal output disappeared, but these astrocytes maintained their rhythmic activities. In addition, in transgenic mice that expressed channelrhodopsin2 only on astrocytes, photo-stimulation of preBotC astrocytes induced firing of inspiratory neurons. Channelrhodopsin2 is an ion channel that activates the cell when a light is emitted. These findings suggest that astrocytein the preBotC are actively involved in the respiratory rhythm generation.
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