Identification of neuron-glia signaling mechanisms required for synaptic plasticity and memory formation

2017 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 15K06729
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Neurophysiology / General neuroscience
• Research Institution: Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Medical Science
• Principal Investigator: HORIUCHI Junjiro 公益財団法人東京都医学総合研究所, 認知症・高次脳機能研究分野, 主席研究員 (80392364)
• Project Period (FY): 2015-04-01 – 2018-03-31
• Keywords: Drosophila / Learning and Memory / glia

Outline of Final Research Achievements

As we age, we suffer a decrease in memory, known as age-related memory impairment or AMI. Here we examined the caused of age-related impairments in long-term memory (LTM) in Drosophila. We found that normal LTM formation requires decreased neuronal activity during memory consolidation, a period of time after training during which protein synthesis occurs and short forms of memory are converted or consolidated into LTM. In particular, we found that inhibiting activity of dopaminergic neurons improves memory consolidation. Further, inhibiting activity of dopaminergic neurons improved LTM more in old flies compared to young flies. This indicated that one cause of age-related impairments in LTM is increased dopaminergic activity during consolidation in old flies. We identified a subset of dopaminergic neurons responsible for age-related impairments in LTM, and have evidence showing that activity of these neurons increases with age.

Free Research Field

Neurobiology of learning and memory