Theme
Currently, I belong to laboratory of NeuroScience, Department of Psychiatry, Facukty of Medicine, University of Fukuoka and conduct research on psychiatric disorders.
Biomarkers
(This work was supported by JSPS KAKENHI Grant Number JP15K19758. )
Development of biomarkers that are objective indicators in the diagnosis of psychiatric disorders is regarded as important, and it is one of the world-wide research topics.
I investigated the possibility that Lysophosphatidic acid (LPA), a lipid mediator involved in intracellular signal transduction, can be used as a diagnostic marker of depression.
It is suggested that LPA is involved in the pharmacological function of antidepressant SSRI, and intracerebroventricular administration of LPA induced anxiety-like behavior in animal experimentation. Thus, LPA, which is suggested to be involved in emotion and depression, has the potential to be applied as a biomarker for objectively evaluating the progress of diagnosis and treatment of depression.
Since this outcome is expected to expand not only to development of biomarkers related to depression but also dementia and suicidal ideation, We are collecting and analyzing human blood samples.
Pharmacological analysis
Many types of animal models are used in research area of human mental disease.
In our laboratory, we are conducting research to elucidate the pathology of depression and develop new therapies using an olfactory bulbectomized rat model which is an animal model of depression.