["Infectious disease" theory during the Japanese Shogunate: an analysis of "Ichikawa Hashimoto-Hakuju-cho Dandoku-ron Ikken"].

Dandoku-ron (Treatise on Eliminating Poisons), written at the beginning of the 19th century by Hakuju Hashimoto, a doctor from Kai (Yamanashi Prefecture), is said to be the first book written by a Japanese author who "treated infectious diseases by means of modern concepts." Hashimoto acquired the ideas for his "infectious disease" theory through his own observations and experience. These ideas, suggesting that tangible poisons--not epidemics or congenital eczema--caused diseases such as smallpox, measles, syphilis, and scabies, were fresh and original at the time. The originality that Hashimoto demonstrated in Dandokuron sometimes conflicted, however, with the theories of the Ikeda group of the Igakkan (Tokugawa Shogunate medical school). This paper details information related to this conflict and explores the politicization caused by the "infectious disease" theory during the Japanese Shogunate.

[History of collecting cadavers in Japan].

This study investigated how and from where medical students had acquired cadavers for research throughout Japanese history. At the beginning of dissection in the mid Edo era, they cut up executed prisoners granted by the Tokugawa Shyogunate to study internal body parts. After the Meiji Restoration, the social mechanism of delivering cadavers underwent a complete transformation and they began to utilize 1) dead bodies of inpatients who had received free medical treatment and 2) unclaimed bodies mainly from homes for the aged and prisons. It was quite recently that "kentai", voluntary body donation, became common practice of collecting cadavers. Consequently the history of cadavers submitted to dissection faithfully reflects the relation between medical science and society.

Tissue type plasminogen activator induced in rat dorsal horn astrocytes contributes to mechanical hypersensitivity following dorsal root injury.

Dorsal root injury is known to induce alteration of the extracellular environment in the spinal cord and synaptic reorganization with degradation of injured primary afferent and sprouting of spared terminal. These changes affect behavioral sensitivity and sometimes lead to neuropathic pain. We have hypothesized that changes in extracellular proteolysis in the dorsal horn is involved in neuroplastic changes in the dorsal horn after nerve injury. Tissue type plasminogen activator (tPA) is a well-known extracellular serine protease and is involved in the modification of the extracellular matrix, which leads to neuroplastic changes such as long-term potentiation in the hippocampus. In the present study, we found a marked induction of tPA in activated astrocytes following L4/5 root injury and a resultant increase of proteolytic enzymatic activity in the dorsal horn. We also examined the involvement of tPA activity on mechanical hypersensitivity using a root ligation model which has been used for investigating radiculopathy pain behavior. Intrathecal and continuous administration of tPA inhibitor, tPA-STOP, suppressed root ligation-induced mechanical allodynia in a dose-dependent manner during an early stage of injury (0-4 days). In contrast, the delayed administration of tPA-STOP during the chronic stage of injury (10 days) did not affect pain behavior. These data suggest an important contribution of astrocytes in the dorsal horn to the pathophysiology of radiculopathy pain, and astrocyte-derived tPA and the proteolytic activity in the dorsal horn may be one of the essential factors involved in pain following root injury.

[Rituals for the dissected in pre-modern Japan].

This paper examines what kinds of bodies were utilized as cadavers in the dissections for medical studies in the Edo period and how researchers treated them, through analyzing the memorial addresses delivered at the Buddhist altar by researchers. At present, 5 texts are known as memorial addresses for the dissected: 1. from a group led by Yamawaki Toyo to Kutsuka (male) in 1754, 2. and 3. from a group led by Kuriyama Koan to Chyubei (male) and Yasuke (male) respectively in 1789 and in 1815, 4. from a company of Komori Tou to Norimichi (male) in 1821, and 5. from the members of Saisei-kan to Noe (female) and an unknown person (male) in 1861. All the cadavers were the bodies of executed felons. It was true that researchers bestowed their highest possible praise on them at the rituals; on the other hand they treated them as bodies. Strictly speaking, the rituals for the dissected in the Edo period were not identical with those of today.

Expression of mRNA for four subtypes of the proteinase-activated receptor in rat dorsal root ganglia.

Proteinase-activated receptors (PARs) are members of the superfamily of G-protein coupled receptors that initiate intracellular signaling by the proteolytic activity of extracellular serine proteases. Three member of this family (PAR-1, PAR-3, and PAR-4) are considered thrombin receptors, whereas PAR-2 is activated by trypsin and tryptase. Recently, activation of PAR-2 signal was identified as a pro-inflammatory factor that mediates peripheral sensitization of nociceptors. Activation of PAR-1 in the periphery is also considered to be a neurogenic mediator of inflammation that is involved in peptide release. Here, we investigated the expression of these four members of PARs in the adult rat dorsal root ganglia (DRG) using radioisotope-labeled in situ hybridization histochemistry. We detected mRNA for all subtypes of PARs in the DRG. Histological analysis revealed the specific expression patterns of the PARs. PAR-1, PAR-2, and PAR-3 mRNA was expressed in 29.0+/-4.0%, 16.0+/-3.2%, and 40.9+/-1.3% of DRG neurons, respectively. In contrast, PAR-4 mRNA was mainly observed in non-neuronal cells. A double-labeling study of PARs with NF-200 and alpha calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) also revealed the distinctive expression of PARs mRNA in myelinated or nociceptive neurons. This study shows the precise expression pattern of PARs mRNA in the DRG and indicates that the cells in DRG can receive modulation with different types of proteinase-activated receptors.

[Addendum to the research on the institutionalization of anatomical studies in modern Japan].

Up to the present, many studies have described the processes of the institutionalization of anatomical studies in modern Japan. But due to the lack of primary sources, especially regarding the situation from the late Meiji period to the Taisho period, there are still some blanks to fill in. This paper reassesses the daily records of a gross anatomy laboratory as historical material and tries to grasp the situations of institutionalization during the said period through analysis. In consequence, several practices of the laboratory not yet open to the public, for example, how and from where cadavers had been collected for anatomical studies in those days, have come to light and some insight into the relationship between medical science and society could be gained.