| Project/Area Number |
13670142
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| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
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| Allocation Type | Single-year Grants |
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| Section | 一般 |
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| Research Field |
Pathological medical chemistry
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| Research Institution | Osaka Bioscience Institute |
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Principal Investigator |
TAKUMI Toru Osaka Bioscience Institute, Department of Neuroscience, Head, 第3研究部, 研究室長 (00222092)
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| Project Period (FY) |
2001 – 2002
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| Project Status |
Completed (Fiscal Year 2002)
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| Budget Amount *help |
¥3,600,000 (Direct Cost: ¥3,600,000)
Fiscal Year 2002: ¥1,700,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,700,000)
Fiscal Year 2001: ¥1,900,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,900,000)
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| Keywords | Cerebral neocortex / DNAchip / in situ hybridization / pyramidal neuron / PCP |
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| Research Abstract |
The mammalian cerebral neocortex occupies the largest area of the cerebral cortex and is cytoarchitectually composed of six layers (I-VI). Many of neurological diseases including the mental illnesses are due to the dysfunction of the neocortex. In spite of its functional importance, the neocortex is virtually an unexplored region by approaches of molecular biology including the genome-wide technology. The global screening using microarrays, combined with the systematic in situ hybridization, has provided us with several candidate genes that are expressed predominantly in the mouse neocortex. Among them, Fez, a zinc finger type transcription factor, was analyzed in further detail. No other genes in the neocortex have been known so far to have their expression the strongest in terms of specificity. Using two color in situ hybridization, we have shown that Fez is mainly expressed in the cortical layer V, not in the GABA neurons but in the pyramidal neurons, the projection neurons of the cerebral cortex. Molecules identified by our systematic analyses would be invaluable not only for molecular understanding of the development and function of the neocortex but also for the use of their promoters in the gene-manipulated animals as well as in conditional expression systems.
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