Realizing a healthy, active, aged society and creating a sustainable society

New Research Results

A New Era in Fish Intestinal Health

Researchers at AIST and Shiga Prefectural Fisheries Experiment Station have discovered butyric acid-producing bacteria from fish intestines for the first time in the world.
In recent years, the aquaculture industry has experienced rapid global growth, with land-based aquaculture also becoming active domestically. However, the industry faces various challenges, including the depletion of fish meal, a key feed ingredient, and the occurrence of fish diseases. As a result, research has been conducted on technologies to address these issues through "gut health" in fish, such as disease suppression and growth promotion. Recent findings have shown the beneficial effects of butyrate-producing bacteria on human intestinal health, leading to research on the use of mammalian-derived butyrate-producing bacteria in aquaculture. However, the optimal temperature for mammalian-derived butyrate-producing bacteria differs significantly from the growth temperature of fish, posing challenges in terms of colonization. The discovery of butyrate-producing bacteria in rainbow trout intestines opens the door to new intestinal health technologies for fish using "fish-specific butyrate-producing bacteria." In the future, these bacteria could be utilized as probiotics to improve aquaculture technologies for rainbow trout and other fish, such as trout salmon produced through offshore aquaculture, contributing to reducing economic losses from fish diseases and promoting the use of alternative feed ingredients.

Discovery of a new genus and species of butyric acid-producing bacteria from the intestine of rainbow trout

Poor Sleep as Indicated by Saliva

Researchers at AIST, in collaboration with Ibaraki University, have developed a technique to determine chronic poor sleep using saliva.
Sleep disorders are known to increase the risk of developing psychiatric disorders such as depression and lifestyle-related diseases. However, while daily sleep conditions can be measured objectively with relative ease using simple devices, the diagnosis of chronic sleep disorders is difficult, and methods such as the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) and sleep diaries rely mainly on the subjectivity of the examinee.
In order to search for non-invasive biomarkers to determine chronic poor sleep, we collected saliva from 50 subjects with no sleep problems with a PSQI score of 2 or less and 50 subjects with poor sleep with a PSQI score of 6 or more and conducted metabolome analysis using CE-FTMS. Based on the concentration information of 683 metabolites that could be detected in the saliva, Random Forest Analysis (a form of machine learning) was conducted to identify six metabolites that are important for discriminating between subjects with no sleep problems and those with poor sleep. Using these, we created a discrimination model and found that we were able to discriminate between those with poor sleep as determined by PSQI scores with consistency of 86.6%.
This achievement not only enables objective and non-invasive evaluation of chronic poor sleep but also has the potential to evaluate changes in daily sleep status, which is considered difficult with the PSQI. In the future, reagent kits and simple devices for measuring metabolites that serve as biomarkers will be developed and established as a self-care technology for sleep, which will be used to monitor the quality of sleep in daily life and for health management at home, at work, and in facilities for the elderly.

Development of non-invasive biomarkers to determine chronic poor sleep

Open Innovation Laboratory

Since FY 2016, as a part of the “Open Innovation Arena concept” promoted by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI), AIST has created the concept of “open innovation laboratories” (OILs), collaborative research bases located on university campuses, and has been engaged in their provision. We are planning to establish more than ten OILs by FY 2020.

AIST will merge the basic research carried out at universities, etc. with AISTʼs goal-oriented basic research and applied technology development, and will promote bridging research and evelopment and industry by the establishment of OILs.