| Budget Amount *help |
¥3,900,000 (Direct Cost: ¥3,000,000、Indirect Cost: ¥900,000)
Fiscal Year 2013: ¥1,170,000 (Direct Cost: ¥900,000、Indirect Cost: ¥270,000)
Fiscal Year 2012: ¥1,170,000 (Direct Cost: ¥900,000、Indirect Cost: ¥270,000)
Fiscal Year 2011: ¥1,560,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,200,000、Indirect Cost: ¥360,000)
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| Research Abstract |
In the sensory thalamus, relay neurons receive both afferent and feedback inputs from the cerebral cortex. Although developmental process of afferent synapses has been studied, the functional role of cortical inputs in development of thalamic circuits is still unclear. In the visual thalamus, it was reported that once established afferent synapses are maintained in visual experience-dependent manner. I hypothesized that cortical activity was involved in the maintenance of afferent synapses in the thalamus. I found that type 1 metabotropic glutamate receptor (mGluR1) in the thalamus which was densely expressed at corticothalamic synapses was involved in the experience-dependent maintenance of afferent synapses and pharmacological blockade of cortical activity triggered remodeling of once established afferent synapses. These results suggest that cortical activity maintain connection pattern of afferent synapses, possibly via mGluR1 activation.
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