Whole brain activity mapping and analysis of neuronal innervation in a stress model

2016 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 15K14964
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Pharmacology in pharmacy
• Research Institution: Osaka University
• Principal Investigator: Kasai Atsushi 大阪大学, 薬学研究科, 助教 (40454649)
• Co-Investigator(Renkei-kenkyūsha): HASHIMOTO Hitoshi 大阪大学, 大学院薬学研究科, 教授 (30240849) ; YAMANAKA Akihiro 名古屋大学, 環境医学研究所, 教授 (60323292) ; YAMAGUCHI Shun 岐阜大学, 大学院医学研究科, 教授 (70304087) ; HASHIMOTO Takeshi 静岡大学, 工学部, 准教授 (60228418)
• Project Period (FY): 2015-04-01 – 2017-03-31
• Keywords: 全脳活動マッピング / ストレス / 脳計測科学 / イメージング

Outline of Final Research Achievements

In order to understand the pathogenic mechanisms of stress-related mental disorders, it is needed to systemically identify brain functional alterations in stress exposure. We recently developed an automated imaging system with high speed at subcellular resolution, named FAST. Here, to reveal spatial patterns of stress-related neuronal activation, we performed whole-brain imaging of stressed Arc-dVenus reporter mice which expressed destabilized Venus in activated neurons, and compared of the number and distribution of dVenus-positive cells among control and stressors by FAST system. Mental stress increased the number of dVenus positive-cells in several brain regions. Moreover, we found stress-related neuronal circuitries including these nuclei by anatomical investigation of projections using anterograde and retrograde tracing. These results lead to a better understanding of anatomo-functional neuronal networks related with stress-induced psychiatric disorders.

Free Research Field

(3) 神経薬理学