2021 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

Opt-ECoG system development for manipulating the cortical top-down circuit of self-agency

Research Project

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Project/Area Number	19K22584
Research Category	Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Research (Exploratory)
Allocation Type	Multi-year Fund
Review Section	Medium-sized Section 51:Brain sciences and related fields
Research Institution	Institute of Physical and Chemical Research
Principal Investigator	Komatsu Misako 国立研究開発法人理化学研究所, 脳神経科学研究センター, 研究員 (00525545)
Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha)	菅野江里子岩手大学, 理工学部, 准教授 (70375210)
Project Period (FY)	2019-06-28 – 2022-03-31
Keywords	マーモセット / 鳴きかわし / 皮質脳波 / 神経回路操作 / 光遺伝学 / オプトジェネティクス
Outline of Final Research Achievements	We aimed to elucidate the neural basis related to self-agency during vocal communication by combining large-scale electrocorticography (ECoG) and optogenetic manipulation of the cortical top-down circuit. For this purpose, we developed an Opt-ECoG system. We virally induced a light-sensitive protein into the frontal areas of marmosets, and observed neural responses to photo-stimulation not only in the frontal lobe, which is the injection site, but also in the temporal lobe, which is the projection site. We also developed a wireless system that allow us to measure neural activity during marmoset vocal communication. The results suggested that marmosets decided as to whether or not to respond to the other's call during listening it, and that brain regions similar to the areas responsible for human language, such as the auditory, frontal, and posterior parietal areas, are involved.
Free Research Field	脳情報科学
Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements	本研究課題では、霊長類の前頭葉トップダウン回路を操作する手法の開発を行った。前頭葉トップダウン回路の機能異常は統合失調症などの神経疾患における社会行動の困難を引き起こしている可能性が示唆されており、そのような回路の操作手法の開発に成功したことは、高次認知機能における前頭葉トップダウン回路の役割を明らかにするという基礎科学的な意義のみでなく、神経疾患の理解・制御にもつながる重要な進捗である。また、マーモセットの音声コミュニケーション時の広域神経活動計測が可能になったことで、今後、霊長類音声コミュニケーションの神経基盤の解明に繋がることが期待される。