2018 Fiscal Year Annual Research Report
Subcortical processing of visual fear stimuli in the common marmoset
| Project/Area Number |
18F18105
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| Research Institution | Kyoto University |
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Principal Investigator |
伊佐 正 京都大学, 医学研究科, 教授 (20212805)
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| Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha) |
CHEN CHIH-YANG 京都大学, 医学(系)研究科(研究院), 外国人特別研究員
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| Project Period (FY) |
2018-04-25 – 2020-03-31
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| Keywords | marmoset / innate fear / amygdala / superior colliculus |
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| Outline of Annual Research Achievements |
The current situation of my research is progressing very well. I have divided the experiments in steps and have accomplished most of the preparation. For the anatomical connection between superior colliculus and amygdala, I have successfully injected viral tracer into superior colliculus in marmosets. The injections were very precise and with minimum leakage in the overlying cortex. This is mainly to prepare for the double injection, one anterograde tracing in the superior colliculus and one retrograde tracing in amygdala. For the physiological recording in awake, behaving marmosets, I have trained them to sit in a chair with head-fixed using implanted 3D-printted headposts. These marmosets are able to perform simple eye movements tasks and also pay attention to the screen. I have also established the protocol to achieve such training. This is mainly for showing them the pictures of fearful or non-fearful stimuli while performing physiological recording in the later experiment. For this purpose, I have also purchased silicon probes from the JSPS grant-in-aid. I also tested how to build implants for the marmosets using 3D-printing technics because there are no commercially available chambers or headposts for them. For the optogenetical manipulation in freely moving marmosets, I am currently testing 3D motion capture system using video cameras and the motion analysis deep-learning network, DeepLabCut. This is for capturing the reaction of the marmosets while they encounter with fearful stimulus in their home cage and to synchronize the optogenetics signal with their motion.
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| Current Status of Research Progress |
Current Status of Research Progress
2: Research has progressed on the whole more than it was originally planned.
Reason
Reasoning: For my proposed research, there are several components including anatomical, physiological, and behavioral studies. For the first year, with the great help from Prof. Isa and the JSPS Funding, I have finished almost all the preparation for acquiring data. To be more specific, in the anatomical part, I have conducted several MRI guided microinjection with the assistant of Prof. Isa and colleagues to achieve very precise injection. This is a critical step for the actual experiments because I had no experience in microinjection. In addition, I have trained the marmosets for behavioral experiments. This is very new experience for me because I had never trained marmosets before and had heard that they are difficult to train. This was one of my concern at the beginning, which might slow me down. However, with the help in Prof. Isa’s lab, I have established the training protocol and have trained marmosets successfully. Now, I have everything prepared and I am confident to say that we are on schedule. For the following year, I am going to work hard one all the proposed experiments and acquire all the data necessary. In regard of the above, I selected “2. Expected” as my self-evaluation.
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| Strategy for Future Research Activity |
For the upcoming year, with the established technics, I will perform double injection, one anterograde in the superior colliculus and one retrograde in the amygdala in the same marmoset to complete exploring the connection between the two brain areas. I will also perform physiological recordings in superior colliculus and amygdala in head-fixed, awake, behaving marmosets while they view pictures that are fearful. I will also purchase a telemetry optogenetical system to finish the experiment in manipulating the fear reaction of freely moving marmosets.
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