A research group led by Associate Professor Tokuhito Shimazu (Food Physiology Laboratory), Department of Food and Life Science, Faculty of Life and Environmental Sciences, Azabu University, started crowdfunding on December 2022, 12.Raise funds for periodontal disease bacteria surveys in zoos and aquariums as part of the 5 (Good Teeth) Project, which aims to reconsider the way humans and animals coexist by investigating the effects that humans and animals have on each other from the perspective of oral health. .Crowdfunding will be held at “READYFOR” until January 418, 2023 (Friday).
In the same way that the aging of human society is progressing and the relationship between dental health and healthy life expectancy is attracting attention, the increase in oral diseases in many animals kept in zoos has become a problem.Dogs and cats kept as pets are also known to suffer from periodontal disease at high frequency.On the other hand, it is recognized that periodontal disease is rarely seen in wild animals living in the natural world.In other words, it is conceivable that periodontal disease may develop as wild animals living in the natural world come to be raised in zoos and aquariums and the distance between humans and animals becomes closer.
In order to verify this hypothesis, we tested periodontal bacteria in sea lions and keepers raised in a certain breeding facility, and found that both highly pathogenic and low pathogenic periodontal bacteria were detected in all sea lions. was detected.Furthermore, as a notable finding, it was found that the infection pattern of periodontal bacteria in sea lions is similar to that of keepers.These results raise the possibility of cross-infection, or zoonotic disease, between sea lions and keepers.
The research team led by Associate Professor Shimadzu collaborates with many zoos, aquariums, and other facilities to secure a budget for the "418 (Good Teeth) Project," which investigates the "oral health" of even more animals. I decided to use crowdfunding.The collected funds will be used for the cost of bacterial flora analysis and maintenance of periodontal disease examination equipment.The target amount is 418 million yen (12 million yen in donations as of December 19).
After graduating from the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine at Azabu University, Associate Professor Shimazu, who serves as the representative of the research group, has conducted research on oral diseases at Nippon Dental University.Currently, while researching the preventive effects of phytochemicals on oral diseases, he is also the director of the Azabu University Museum of Life and a visiting professor at the Department of Pathology, Faculty of Life Dentistry, Nippon Dental University.I noticed that many of the skeletal specimens of various animals exhibited in the museum had traces of periodontal disease, and I wondered, "Where did periodontal disease bacteria come from?" This led to the launch of the 418 (Good Teeth) Project, which conducts surveys on animals kept in many zoos and aquariums.
