| Budget Amount *help |
¥22,620,000 (Direct Cost: ¥17,400,000、Indirect Cost: ¥5,220,000)
Fiscal Year 2017: ¥5,330,000 (Direct Cost: ¥4,100,000、Indirect Cost: ¥1,230,000)
Fiscal Year 2016: ¥5,330,000 (Direct Cost: ¥4,100,000、Indirect Cost: ¥1,230,000)
Fiscal Year 2015: ¥5,850,000 (Direct Cost: ¥4,500,000、Indirect Cost: ¥1,350,000)
Fiscal Year 2014: ¥6,110,000 (Direct Cost: ¥4,700,000、Indirect Cost: ¥1,410,000)
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| Outline of Final Research Achievements |
Although dopamine neurons are well known as key components of the brain’s reward system, the degeneration of these neurons causes not only reward-related motivational dysfunctions but also motor and cognitive dysfunctions as seen in Parkinson’s disease. In the present study, we focused on a cognitive function called “response inhibition”, which is required to inhibit inappropriate actions, and found that the nigrostriatal dopamine pathway plays a crucial role in response inhibition in macaque monkeys. Furthermore, we were able to develop a new optogenetic technique that can stimulate targeted neural pathways in the macaque brain. We are planning to stimulate the nigrostriatal dopamine pathway using this optogenetic technique and examine whether stimulating this pathway enhances the performance of response inhibition.
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