Investigation of functional interaction between multiple brain sites to regulate a higher brain function in macaque monkeys by using a gene-manipulation technique

Research Project

Project/Area Number	26430048
Research Category	Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
Allocation Type	Multi-year Fund
Section	一般
Research Field	Nerve anatomy/Neuropathology
Research Institution	Institute of Physical and Chemical Research
Principal Investigator	Higo Takayasu 国立研究開発法人理化学研究所, 脳科学総合研究センター, 研究員 (10396757)
Project Period (FY)	2014-04-01 – 2017-03-31
Project Status	Completed (Fiscal Year 2016)
Budget Amount *help	¥5,070,000 (Direct Cost: ¥3,900,000、Indirect Cost: ¥1,170,000) Fiscal Year 2016: ¥1,690,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,300,000、Indirect Cost: ¥390,000) Fiscal Year 2015: ¥1,300,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,000,000、Indirect Cost: ¥300,000) Fiscal Year 2014: ¥2,080,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,600,000、Indirect Cost: ¥480,000)
Keywords	霊長類 / 高次脳機能 / 前頭前野 / 神経投射 / ウイルスベクター
Outline of Final Research Achievements	It has been suggested that the higher brain functions in primates including human are regulated by highly developed cerebral cortex. A large number of researches using primates have actively investigated to clarify the functions of anatomical connections between areas. However, the underlying circuit mechanisms of the higher functions remain elusive, because of the difficulties to generate a method of selectively manipulating the interaction between brain sites. In this research project, we mainly focused on a functional interaction between prefrontal cortex and inferior temporal cortex to regulate attention, and in order to identify circuits and neural activities, we were able to develop a technique to projection-specifically manipulate a gene between two areas, and will apply this to trained monkeys to projection-specifically block a brain function, attention, and then analyze them by behavior and electrophysiological studies.