Mechanisms of axon initial segment maturation

2017 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 15H04257
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B)
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Neurophysiology / General neuroscience
• Research Institution: Nagoya University
• Principal Investigator: Kuba Hiroshi 名古屋大学, 医学系研究科, 教授 (10362469)
• Project Period (FY): 2015-04-01 – 2018-03-31
• Keywords: 軸索 / 活動電位 / ナトリウムチャネル / カリウムチャネル

Outline of Final Research Achievements

The axon initial segment (AIS) is a highly excitable axonal domain near the soma and involved in initiation of action potentials in neurons. In the aim of elucidating mechanisms underlying determination of AIS distribution, we examined development of AIS in avian nucleus magnocellularis (NM), which is known to show differentiation of AIS distribution along the tonotopic axis. What we found was that the differentiation of AIS started after hearing onset and completed after hatch in vivo, while the differentiation was abolished in organotypic culture, where afferent input was totally absent during development, suggesting the importance of neuronal activity in defining the distribution of AIS. We also found that the activity-dependent changes of AIS distribution accompanied rearrangement of potassium channel expression at the AIS.

Free Research Field

神経科学