Study on brain mechanisms involved in orofacial functions to map the entire brain connectivity (connectome)

2017 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 16K15775
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Morphological basic dentistry
• Research Institution: Osaka University
• Principal Investigator: Yoshida Atsushi 大阪大学, 歯学研究科, 教授 (90201855)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): 富田 章子 大阪大学, 歯学部附属病院, 医員 (10585342) ; 加藤 隆史 大阪大学, 歯学研究科, 教授 (50367520) ; 橘 吉寿 神戸大学, 医学研究科, 講師 (50373197) ; 佐藤 文彦 大阪大学, 歯学研究科, 助教 (60632130)
• Project Period (FY): 2016-04-01 – 2018-03-31
• Keywords: 筋感覚 / 深部感覚 / 神経回路 / コネクトーム / 三叉神経 / 島皮質

Outline of Final Research Achievements

We had the following results in rats. (1) The proprioception from masticatory muscle spindles (MMS-proprioception) was conveyed to the supratrigeminal nucleus (Su5), then to the caudo-ventromedial edge of ventral posteromedial thalamic nucleus (VPMcvm), and finally to the dorsal part of granular insular cortex (dGIrvs2), but not to the primary and secondary somatosensory cortices (S1 and S2). The MMS-proprioception may make effects on emotion and homeostasis through this pathway, but not on the sensory discrimination. (2) The other orofacial sensations were conveyed to the trigeminal sensory nuclear complex, and then to the core VPM, and finally to the S1 and S2. (3) These two corticopetal pathways did not overlap each other. This study has for the first time revealed functional significances of muscle proprioception, and, thus, will contribute very much to the study of connectome in brain science.

Free Research Field

脳神経解剖学　口腔解剖学