この度、滋賀医科大学の姉妹校であるカナダ・ブリティッシュコロンビア大学とイタリア・ローマ大学から２名の神経科学者が、共同研究のため分子神経科学研究センターを訪問されます。そこで、分子神経科学研究センターでは、実験実習支援センターと共催で、両教授の最新の研究成果を発表して頂く国際連続セミナーを企画しました。是非、ご参加下さい。

演　者

Dr. Tindaro Renda（Professor of Rome University, Italy)

演　題

IMMUNOHISTOCHEMICAL LOCALIZATION OF cChAT AND pChAT IN THE NERVOUS SYSTEM OF INVERTEBRATES

日　時

平成１９年２月２７日（火）１６：００〜１８：００

場　所

基礎研究棟２階　教職員ロビー

講演要旨

　Acetylcholine, the first neurotransmitter to be identified, is widely distributed in the animal kingdom. The most reliable method to visualize cholinergic neurons is immunohistochemistry for its synthesizing enzyme choline acetyltransferase (ChAT). In addition to the well-known enzyme (cChAT, common to both the central and peripheral nerves), the peripheral type of ChAT (pChAT) has recently been identified. Two polyclonal specific antibodies against cChAT and pChAT have been produced by the equipe of Prof. Hiro Kimura at their laboratory of MNRC in SUMS. Although cChAT is reportedly detectable consistently in the central, but not peripheral, nervous system, pChAT has been shown to be present preferentially in the peripheral nervous system of mammals. Since, however, the presence of pChAT in various vertebrates other than mammals has been hardly demonstrated, the current implication is that cChAT may be a phylogenetically more ancient form than pChAT that may be produced recently as a splicing variant of ChAT.
　The present immunohistochemical study, carried out in our laboratory by using the two types of antibodies, reopens the debate because it shows that both enzymes can easily be demonstrated widely in the nervous system of various invertebrates. More importantly, cChAT and pChAT are often localized distinctively in different neuronal cells of the same ganglia. Among the invertebrate species we examined, I will present here some typical results in two mollusca, a gasteropode as the giant garden slug (Limax maximus, Linn.) and a cephalopode as the octopus (Octopus vulgaris, Cuvier).

分子神経科学研究センター（システム脳機能分野・神経遺伝子解析分野）共催