| Budget Amount *help |
¥5,200,000 (Direct Cost: ¥4,000,000、Indirect Cost: ¥1,200,000)
Fiscal Year 2016: ¥1,300,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,000,000、Indirect Cost: ¥300,000)
Fiscal Year 2015: ¥2,340,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,800,000、Indirect Cost: ¥540,000)
Fiscal Year 2014: ¥1,560,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,200,000、Indirect Cost: ¥360,000)
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| Outline of Final Research Achievements |
We examined the activity of neurons in habenular pathways and performed behavioral and sleep analyses in mice with pharmacological and genetic inhibition of the activity of the glial glutamate transporter GLT-1 in the LHb. The habenula-specific inhibition of GLT-1 increased the neuronal firing rate and the level of c-Fos expression in the LHb. Mice with reduced GLT-1 activity in the habenula exhibited a depressive-like phenotype in the tail suspension and novelty-suppressed feeding tests. These animals also displayed increased susceptibility to chronic stress, displaying more frequent avoidant behavior without affecting locomotor activity in the open-field test. Intriguingly, the mice showed disinhibition of rapid eye movement sleep, which is a characteristic sleep pattern in patients with depression. These results provide evidence that disrupting glutamate clearance in habenular astrocytes increases neuronal excitability and depressive-like phenotypes in behaviors and sleep.
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