2021 Fiscal Year Final Research Report
Experience-dependent plasticity of defensive behaviors to the visual threat and its neural basis
Project/Area Number |
19K07293
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Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
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Allocation Type | Multi-year Fund |
Section | 一般 |
Review Section |
Basic Section 48020:Physiology-related
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Research Institution | National Institute for Physiological Sciences |
Principal Investigator |
Narushima Madoka 生理学研究所, 基盤神経科学研究領域, 准教授 (30596177)
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Project Period (FY) |
2019-04-01 – 2022-03-31
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Keywords | 恐怖反応 / 上丘 / 視覚 / 経験依存的可塑性 |
Outline of Final Research Achievements |
Rodents demonstrate defensive behaviors such as fleeing or freezing upon recognizing a looming shadow above them. We aimed to describe the developmental process of defensive behaviors in response to visual threats and the effects of visual deprivation to understand how sensory experience affects behavior selection. We found that the development of defensive behaviors in response to looming stimuli was affected by an individual’s sensory experience and pattern selection changed depending on their sensory experience. We developed in vitro preparation to stimulate cortical inputs independently by using optogenetics to analyze the contribution of cortical inputs to the experience-dependent plasticity in defensive behaviors. Our results lead to understanding the mechanisms of behavioral selection that directly affect the survival rate of organisms.
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Free Research Field |
神経生理学
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Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements |
生物が発達期の環境から得られた情報をもとに、成熟後の行動選択を行うことは一般的に知られている。本研究はその神経基盤を解明することを目的とし、げっ歯類の侵害的な視覚刺激に対する恐怖反応とそれをトリガーする上丘の神経回路に着目した。本研究の成果により、侵害的な視覚刺激に対する恐怖反応が視覚経験の操作により変化することが明らかとなり、行動選択機構とその発達過程を解明するための最適の実験系であることが示された。
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