Affiliations: Department of Applied Biological Chemistry, The
University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan | ILSI Japan-Endowed Chair of Functional Food Science
and Nutrigenomics, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan | Department of Biotechnology, Graduate School of
Agricultural and Life Sciences, The University of Tokyo, Japan | Department of Biophysics and Biochemistry, Graduate
School of Science, The University of Tokyo, Japan | Department of Nutritional Science, Tokyo University of
Agriculture, Japan
Note: [] Address for correspondence: Department of Applied Biological
Chemistry, Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences, The University of
Tokyo, 1-1-1 Yayoi, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8657, Japan. Tel.: +81 3 5841 5129;
Fax: +81 3 5841 8006; E-mail: aka7308@mail.ecc.u-tokyo.ac.jp
Abstract: Peripheral cranial sensory nerves projecting into the oral cavity
receive food intake stimuli and transmit sensory signals to the central nervous
system. They are derived from four cranial sensory ganglia, trigeminal,
geniculate, petrosal, and nodose ganglia, each of which contains multiple kinds
of sensory neurons with different cell morphologies and neuronal properties. We
investigated the complex properties of these neurons from the viewpoint of gene
expression using DNA microarrays. The 498 genes were selected from a total of
8,740 genes as showing tissue-dependent expression on the microarray by
hierarchical cluster analysis, in which several genes known to be
differentially expressed in cranial sensory ganglia are included. This suggests
that DNA microarray cluster analysis revealed a number of characteristic genes
for sensory neurons in these ganglia. Among the selected 498 genes, 44 genes
are associated with neurotransmission, such as neuropeptides, their receptors,
and vesicle transport, and 26 are ion channels regulating membrane potentials.
The identification of a number of genes related directly to neural properties
indicates that these sensory ganglia contain heterogeneous types of neurons
with different neural properties.
Keywords: DNA microarray cluster analysis, gene expression profile, somatosensory neuron, gustatory neuron, general visceral sensory neuron
Journal: BioFactors, vol. 21, no. 1-4, pp. 15-18, 2004
