Fukushimura Brain Bank (FBB)-----Based in a private geriatric hospital---P-1021,2)
1,2)
1)
Hiroyasu Akatsu , Akira Hori , Hidechika Okada ,Yoshio Hashizume 1,2), Takayuki Yamamoto 1,2)
1) Choju Medical Institute, 2) Institute of Neuropathology, Fukushimura Hospital【Introduction】
The FBB was established under the auspices of the Fukushimura
Hospital, a legally incorporated medical institution. It is managed
completely within the private sector.

Choju Medical Institute
Institute of Neuropathology
Fukushimura Hospital【Fukushimura and Our Hospital】“Fukushi”is a Japanese word that means welfare and “mura” is avillage. As shown in the aerial photograph on the right, we have several
buildings for the aged and disabled, and about 800 elderly people reside inour village.
The Fukushimura Hospital was established in 1982 and is managed by theSawarabi Medical Cooperative. It currently has 487 beds. Our patientsmainly have dementia and cerebrovascular problems. The hospital plays apivotal role within the village and acts as the central facility.

【Fukushimura Brain Bank】
Fukushimura Brain Bank was established in 1990. We have a longrecord of collecting samples, not only from patients but also fromresidents of our care houses and nursing homes within theFukushimura complex. This allows us as medical doctors andresearchers to obtain clinical information or blood samples,
sometimes even before the onset of illness. In our institute, all Brain
Bank data is held in the office of individual data management.

Nursing Home
Vocational aid center
Geriatric HealthServices Facility
Home for thementallyretardedHome for the agedHome for the disabled

Day-care house for the disabled
SNP: Single Nucleotide Polymorphism
CSF: Cerebrospinal fluid
AD: Alzheimer’s disease

Major on-going collaborations【Regarding the sampling section 】
In collecting FBB samples, we always keep in mind futurebiochemical and molecular analyses and collaborations. The
brains are separated into two hemispheres. One hemisphere isfixed in formalin for neuropathological analysis and the other isprecisely subdivided into coronary sections and small blocks
which are saved in Eppendorf tubes. After samples arephotographed, they are frozen on dry ice (slices) and in liquid
nitrogen (tubes). Finally, all material is stored at -80 degrees in 8
refrigerators for later use in research.

Ｓｈｉｇａ ＭｅｄSchool

Tsukuba
Univ.

Hokkaido
Univ.

Serum

FixationFreezing

Osaka
Univ.

Kyoto
Univ.

Metals LipidsSerum/CSF
KyushuUniv.

National
Institute forLongevity Sci.

FBB

Fujita Health Univ.
Oxidative
stressTokyo
Med. Univ.

tau

SNPs

TDP-43Riken

Mass image
Niigata
Univ.

Hamamatsu
Med. School

FukushimaMed. School

AD

Hallym Univ.

tau

Stroke Nanyang
TechnologicalUniv.

Basel
Univ.

Longitudinal and Transverse analysis with FBB Samples
Role ofcentral instituteCollaborative projects
Multi-factorial analysis of cases
using the data bankCase 2
Case 3

Tissue from 5
points in thetotal brain areplaced into 5
Eppendorf tubes
Fixed blocks ofhemisphere for diagnosis
and smaller portions for
immunochemistry
The FBB is run by medical doctors in clinical practice with theassistance of a small technical staff. All cases are regularly
discussed with clinicians on a monthly basis (CPC).

Case 4・・
Case 500
・Clinico-pathological data

Case 1Mass analysis based onclinico-pathological data(over 300 cases）

Role of central instituteLipidsMetals

Project x

Whole body autopsy cases are stored as several
tissues, muscles and spinal cord at -80 degrees
with pathological diagnosis.

Conclusions:
Although our bank has gone unrecognized in the past, our farsighted efforts havebeen gaining considerable attention in recent years in Japan. We now have over 20
collaborators and supply more than 30 research institutes with our samples. In
addition, our research institute was approved in 2004 by the Ministry ofEducation, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, as one of the nongovernmental institutes which is permitted to apply for governmental grants andwe became a member of the Comprehensive Brain Science Network in 2010. At thismeeting, we present the FBB at the Choju Medical Institute as a unique facility
and one of the most active brain banks in the world.