Astrocytic neuroprotective mechanism against diabetic encephalopathy through metabolic stress response

2014 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 24591276
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Neurology
• Research Institution: Keio University
• Principal Investigator: TAKAHASHI Shinichi 慶應義塾大学, 医学部, 准教授 (20236285)
• Research Collaborator: ABE Takato 大阪市立大学, 大学院医学研究科, 講師 (30365233) ; IZAWA Yoshikane 慶應義塾大学, 医学部, 助教 (90468471)
• Project Period (FY): 2012-04-01 – 2015-03-31
• Keywords: 糖尿病 / 認知症 / アストロサイト / アストログリア

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Astroglia play a pivotal role in the brain glucose metabolism. In particular, the astroglial metabolic compartment exerts supportive roles in making neurons dedicated to generating action potentials and protects them against oxidative stress associated with high energy consumption. Thus, the metabolic responses of the astroglia in patients with diabetes mellitus (DM) would be neuro-protective. DM induces numerous metabolic derangements, resulting in irreversible neuronal damage. Therefore, the metabolic responses of the astroglia in the early stage of DM could be either protective or deleterious. In this project, we focused on three major metabolic responses: 1) glucose, 2) inflammatory 3) fatty acid. A better understanding of the astroglial metabolic response in normal physiological state may be expected to lead to the development of a novel strategy in DM-associated encephalopathy.

Free Research Field

脳卒中