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Physiology and Oral Physiology

Prof. SUGITA Makoto

¡¾Research Keyword¡¿
taste, eating behavior, essential fatty acid, salivary secretion, cystic fibrosis

¡¾Recent highlights¡¿
The assistant professor, Sakayori N, recently published the article entitled ¡°Maternal dietary imbalance between omega-6 and omega-3 fatty acids triggers the offspring's overeating in mice¡± in Commun Biol (3(1):473). We visualized the taste neuronal circuitries for bitter and sweet using genetic tracing to understand how taste recognition is accomplished in the brain, and then combined the genetic tracing with electrophysiological and immunohistochemical analyses to functionally characterize the taste-relaying neurons in the brainstem. We employed gramicidin-perforated patch recording that enables a time-resolved determination of rate-limiting activities for anion secretion to clarify the regulatory mechanisms of fluid transport in the salivary glands.

¡¾Major Papers of the Laboratory¡¿
?INFORMATION PROCESSING IN BRAINSTEM BITTER TASTE-RELAYING NEURONS DEFINED BY GENETIC TRACING, NEUROSCIENCE, 250, 166-180, 20131010
?Visualization of the secretory process involved in Ca2+-activated fluid secretion from rat submandibular glands using the fluorescent dye, calcein., Eur. J. Cell Biol., 79, 182-191, 20000401
?CFTR Cl- channel and CFTR-associated ATP channel: distinct pores regulated by common gates., EMBO J., 17, 898-908, 19980401

¡¾Education¡¿
Students study the homeostasis mechanisms of a human body as to how the different molecules, cells, tissues, and organs in the body work together to maintain the life. The aim is to understand abnormal functions in disease. The primary emphasis of the course is to study the sensory and motor systems in the oral and maxillofacial regions.

¡¾Research¡¿
1: The molecular, cellular, and systems-level mechanisms of how sweet and bitter taste information is processed in the brain, and translated into binary responses of behavior and emotion.
2: Maternal dietary impacts of essential fatty acids on brain development and function
3: The mechanisms underlying ion and fluid transport in the salivary glands
4: Studying how the disease-causing mutations in the CFTR gene affect the functions of epithelial cells in order to rationally develop therapeutic means to treat the altered function.

Taste receptor cells expressing GFP-tagged taste receptors and DsRed-tagged tracers
 

Newly generated brain cells that release dopamine, which drive hedonic eating in adulthood
 

The mechanism of anion secretion in salivary gland cells


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School of Dentistry

1-2-3 Kasumi, Minami-ku, Hiroshima City, Hiroshima, Japan 734-8553
TEL: +81-82-257-1705