Understanding episodic memory mechanisms using replay of place cell activity sequences

2023 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 19H01131
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (A)
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Section: 一般
• Review Section: Medium-sized Section 61:Human informatics and related fields
• Research Institution: Doshisha University
• Principal Investigator: Takahashi Susumu 同志社大学, 脳科学研究科, 教授 (20510960)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): 藤山 文乃 北海道大学, 医学研究院, 教授 (20244022) ; 苅部 冬紀 北海道大学, 医学研究院, 助教 (60312279) ; 井出 薫 同志社大学, 研究開発推進機構, 助教 (90806671)
• Project Period (FY): 2019-04-01 – 2024-03-31
• Keywords: 場所細胞

Outline of Final Research Achievements

We could report numerous findings, including the deep involvement of the correlation between theta and gamma bands of local field potentials within the hippocampus in memory recall. In the development of techniques to manipulate replay phenomena, there have been remarkable advancements in both electrophysiological recording methods and optogenetics-based neural stimulation methods, resulting in many research findings published in international scientific journals. Furthermore, by integrating these methods in real-time, we succeeded in selectively and in real-time altering the activity of targeted neurons. Additionally, to investigate the mechanism of episodic memory recall, we independently developed a reconfigurable maze designed to construct tasks that allow multiple episodes to be experienced in the same external environment.

Free Research Field

認知脳科学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

本研究では、エピソードを含む記憶の想起に深く関与する脳部位や神経伝達物質を明らかにしたとで、エピソード記憶の神経基盤に関する新たな知見を提供した。また、神経細胞活動をリアルタイムで変容する技術を開発したことで、将来的に認知障害の治療法開発に寄与する可能性を示すことができた。さらに、同一環境下で複数のエピソードを経験させる再構成可能な迷路は、神経科学や行動科学研究に幅広く活用可能であり、生物学基礎研究に再現性や信頼性のある実験をもたらす可能性がある。