Optogenetically induced super long term plasticity

2016 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 15K12765
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Basic / Social brain science
• Research Institution: Tohoku University
• Principal Investigator: MATSUI Ko 東北大学, 医学系研究科, 准教授 (20435530)
• Research Collaborator: HARADA Harumi ; SHIGEMOTO Ryuichi ; SUHARA Yuki ; KUBO Naoko ; KWON Soojin
• Project Period (FY): 2015-04-01 – 2017-03-31
• Keywords: 光遺伝学 / オプトジェネティクス / シナプス可塑性 / 小脳 / 脳波

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Long term memory is the foundation of our own identity. However, little is known about the cell physiological change associated with long term memory. Using acute brain slices, synaptic plasticity has been well studied; however, changes occurring within 30 minutes to a few hours at most may be well different from what is happening after several hours and days. We have created an optogenetic model to study super long term changes in synaptic plasticity. Vermis region of the cerebellum was used for this study because it allows near non-invasive optical stimulation and neuronal activity monitoring in vivo. We aimed to understand the basic mechanisms underlying super long term plasticity.

Free Research Field

脳生理学