Keio University · Medicine
Professor Keiichi Fukuda's research lab specializes in cardiac neurobiology and regenerative cardiology, focusing on the intricate neural regulation of heart function and the potential of stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes for cardiac repair. The lab investigates both the intrinsic and extrinsic neural control of the heart, including afferent and efferent signaling pathways, and explores the differentiation and functional maturation of cardiomyogenic cells from bone marrow stroma. A key focus is on understanding the molecular and cellular mechanisms underlying cardiac rhythm and contractility through in vitro models and primary cell systems.
Figures are computed from collected data and may differ slightly.
Afferent and efferent cardiac neurotransmission via the cardiac nerves intricately modulates nearly all physiological functions of the heart (chronotropy, dromotropy, lusitropy, and inotropy). Afferent information from the heart is transmitted to higher levels of the nervous system for processing (intrinsic cardiac nervous system, extracardiac-intrathoracic ganglia, spinal cord, brain stem, and higher centers), which ultimately results in efferent cardiomotor neural impulses (via the sympathetic
We have isolated a cardiomyogenic (CMG) cell line from murine bone marrow stroma. Stromal cells were immortalized, treated with 5-azacytidine, and spontaneous beating cells were repeatedly screened for. The cells showed a fibroblast-like morphology. However, this morphology changed after 5-azacytidine treatment in about 30% of the cells, which connected with adjoining cells after 1 week, formed myotube-like structures and began spontaneous beating after 2 weeks, and beat synchronously after 3 we
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