Regulation of social behavior by reciprocal interaction between OXTergic and DAergic system

2019 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 16K01954
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Basic / Social brain science
• Research Institution: Saitama Medical University (2018-2019); Kyorin University (2016-2017)
• Principal Investigator: Fujiwara Tomonori 埼玉医科大学, 保健医療学部, 教授 (90255399)
• Project Period (FY): 2016-04-01 – 2020-03-31
• Keywords: シナプス関連タンパク質 / シンタキシン / 開口放出 / 社会行動 / ドパミン / オキシトシン

Outline of Final Research Achievements

STX1A is known to regulate synaptic vesicle exocytosis. We found that STX1A gene might be implicated in autistic spectrum disorder. In STX1A gene knockout mice (STX1A KO), unusual behavioral properties including impairment of social recognition memory was observed. We demonstrated that STX1A KO exhibited reduction of oxytocin (OXT) release in CNS. We analyzed the regulation of social behavior by OXT using STX1A KO as a model animals. We found that the effect of OXT was related with DAergic system, and reciprocal interaction between OXTergic and DAergic system played important roles for regulation of social behavior.

Free Research Field

神経科学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

近年の研究で、ヒト精神神経疾患にシナプス関連分子が関連することが明らかになってきた。本研究では、神経伝達物質の放出を制御するSTX1Aが自閉性疾患に関連することを示した。また、STX1Aを欠損させたマウスをモデルとして、自閉性疾患でみられる病態を引き起こす分子機構について検討を行った。そのため、本研究はヒト精神神経疾患の病態解明に向けた有意義な研究である。