Nagoya University · Medicine
Professor Koji Ohashi's research lab focuses on the multifaceted roles of adiponectin, an adipocyte-derived hormone, in metabolic and cardiovascular diseases. The lab investigates how adiponectin modulates immune cell polarization—particularly macrophage M1/M2 balance—protects against vascular insufficiency, and exerts renoprotective effects in kidney injury. Key research directions include the interplay between adiponectin, inflammation, oxidative stress, and endothelial function, especially through regulators like COX-2. The lab employs genetic mouse models and viral overexpression systems to dissect molecular mechanisms underlying adiponectin’s protective actions in obesity-related pathologies such as hypertension, diabetes, and atherosclerosis.
Figures are computed from collected data and may differ slightly.
It is established that the adipocyte-derived cytokine adiponectin protects against cardiovascular and metabolic diseases, but the effect of this adipokine on macrophage polarization, an important mediator of disease progression, has never been assessed. We hypothesized that adiponectin modulates macrophage polarization from that resembling a classically activated M1 phenotype to that resembling alternatively-activated M2 cells. Peritoneal macrophages and the stromal vascular fraction (SVF) cells
Patients with obesity are susceptible to hypertension. We have reported that the plasma adiponectin levels are decreased in obesity and that adiponectin has many defensive properties against obesity-related diseases, such as type 2 diabetes and coronary artery disease. The aim of this study was to determine the relationship between adiponectin and hypertension in mice. We measured blood pressure and heart rate directly by a catheter in the carotid artery and indirectly by automatic sphygmomanome
Adiponectin accumulates to the injured kidney, and prevents glomerular and tubulointerstitial injury through modulating inflammation and oxidative stress.
Adiponectin is a fat-derived plasma protein that has cardioprotective roles in obesity-linked diseases. Because cyclooxygenase 2 (COX-2) is an important modulator of endothelial function, we investigated the possible contribution of COX-2 to adiponectin-mediated vascular responses in a mouse hind limb model of vascular insufficiency. Ischemic insult increased COX-2 expression in endothelial cells of wild-type mice, but this induction was attenuated in adiponectin knockout mice. Ischemia-induced
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