The role of interaction between brain areas on the memory allocation

2019 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 17K19638
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Research (Exploratory)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Brain sciences and related fields
• Research Institution: Tokyo University of Science
• Principal Investigator: Sano Yoshitake 東京理科大学, 理工学部応用生物科学科, 講師 (90415175)
• Project Period (FY): 2017-06-30 – 2020-03-31
• Keywords: 領域間相互作用 / 島皮質 / 扁桃体 / 味覚 / 記憶

Outline of Final Research Achievements

To address the cellular mechanism of memory allocation in the insular cortex (IC) and amygdala in the taste memory formation, and its interaction during learning, we manipulated neuronal activity in a subset of IC and/or amygdala neurons using an hM3Dq designer receptor exclusively activated by a designer drug system (DREADD) during conditioned taste aversion (CTA) learning. Then, we have tested whether pre-activated neuronal population were preferentially activated during memory retrieval. When an hM3Dq receptor was activated only in a subset of IC neurons, c-fos expression following memory retrieval was not preferentially observed in hM3Dq+ neurons. Interestingly, the probability of c-fos expression in hM3Dq-positive IC neurons after retrieval was significantly increased when the IC and amygdala were coactivated during conditioning. Our findings suggest that functional interactions between the IC and amygdala neurons regulates CTA memory allocation in the insular cortex.

Free Research Field

神経科学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

日々起きる出来事のいくつかは我々の脳に記憶として蓄えられる。脳は単一の機能を持つ組織ではなく、領域毎に機能が細分化されている。そして出来事を構成する各要素は対応する脳領域で情報が処理、統合され記憶される。一方、記憶を保存する細胞群が、異なる脳領域間でどのような相互作用によりに選択され、記憶ネットワークを形成するのか、その神経基盤は十分に明らかとなっていない。本成果は、記憶形成を担う細胞群を学習時に決定する領域間での相互作用機構を示す重要な発見であるとともに、機能的に細分化された脳が領域間でどのように情報処理を担い協調的に働くかを理解するための糸口を与えると考える。