| Project/Area Number |
18370029
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| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B)
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| Allocation Type | Single-year Grants |
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| Section | 一般 |
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| Research Field |
Animal physiology/Animal behavior
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| Research Institution | The University of Tokyo |
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Principal Investigator |
OKA Yoshitaka The University of Tokyo, Graduate School of Science, Professor (70143360)
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| Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha) |
AKAZOME Yasuhisa The University of Tokyo, Graduate School of Science, Assistant professor (50302807)
ABE Hideki The University of Tokyo, Graduate School of Science, Assistant professor (90396804)
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| Project Period (FY) |
2006 – 2007
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| Project Status |
Completed (Fiscal Year 2007)
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| Budget Amount *help |
¥16,370,000 (Direct Cost: ¥14,300,000、Indirect Cost: ¥2,070,000)
Fiscal Year 2007: ¥8,970,000 (Direct Cost: ¥6,900,000、Indirect Cost: ¥2,070,000)
Fiscal Year 2006: ¥7,400,000 (Direct Cost: ¥7,400,000)
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| Keywords | Peptide Neuron / Exocytosis / Neuromodulation / Molecular Physiology / Calcium Ion / Imaging / Patch Clamp / GnRH / パツチクランプ |
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| Research Abstract |
Sensor inputs to the TN-GnRH neurons: The environmental changes impinge upon the sensory organs of the animals and then are processed by the sensory processing mechanisms of the brain. Here, we analyzed the synaptic inputs to the TN-GnRH neurons that arise from the sensory processing brain areas. We obtained electrophysiological evidence to show the occurrence of depolarizing GABAergic synaptic inputs to the TN-GnRH neurons, which may play an important role in the transmission of sensory inputs to the neuromodulatory TN-GnRH neurons.
Isolated primary culture of TN-GnRH neurons : We newly developed a method to culture isolated TN-GnRH neurons, which should enable us to reconstitute three dimensional structures of the GnRH neurons in a two-dimensional primary culture system. We plan to use this new preparation for the simultaneous recording of intracellular calcium dynamics (calcium imaging), neural-activities (electrophysiology), and exocytotic GnRH release (carbon fiber amperometry and membrane capacitance measurement).
Generation and analysis of transgenic medaka fish: We first generated a transgenic medaka line in which three morphologically as well as functionally different GnRH neurons express GFP fluorescent proteins. Using one of such transgenic medaka fish, gnrh2-GFP transgenic medaka fish, we could record spontaneous electrical activities of the gnrh2 neurons for the first time in the vertebrate brains. We showed that they exhibit spontaneous regular pacemaker activities similar to the neuromodulatory TN-GnRH neurons, which may suggest that the spontaneous regular pacemaker activity may represent neuromodulatory functions. We also succeeded in recording the electrical activities of the hypophysiotropic GnRH neurons (gneh1 neurons) from gnrh1-GFP transgenic medaka, which showed irregular spontaneous activities quite different from the neuromodulatory gnrh2 and gnrh3 neurons.
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