Circuit mechanism of spatial context information processing

2021 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 19H01010
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (A)
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Section: 一般
• Review Section: Medium-sized Section 46:Neuroscience and related fields
• Research Institution: Kyoto University
• Principal Investigator: Hayashi Yasunori 京都大学, 医学研究科, 教授 (90466037)
• Project Period (FY): 2019-04-01 – 2022-03-31
• Keywords: 記憶固定化 / 記憶痕跡 / 空間記憶 / 前帯状皮質 / 海馬

Outline of Final Research Achievements

We found spatial context cells in the anterior cingulate cortex that respond anywhere in a given space after repeated exposure to the space. Spatial context cells first appeared as place cells, then their receptive fields expanded to become spatial context cells. When hippocampal neural activity was suppressed using DREADD, they stopped forming. However, once established, hippocampal inactivation cannot eliminate spatial context cells. When hippocampal activity was suppressed during sleep, the formation of spatial context cells was similarly inhibited. This shares property with long-term memory. When G-CaMP was expressed using the c-fos promoter, which is known to be expressed in memory engram cells, larger proportion of cells became spatial context cells. These results suggest that spatial context cells are responsible for memory engram.

Free Research Field

神経科学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

これまで記憶エングラム細胞という概念が知られていましたが、そういった細胞が一体どの様な記憶情報をコードしているのかは明らかではありませんでした。わたしたちは記憶エングラム細胞が抽象概念化された場所情報を担っていることに気づきました。これは物事を記憶するときに内容を抽象化することとも一致しています。今後の研究では、アルツハイマー病モデル動物などでこの細胞がどうなっているかを観察していきたいと思っています。