2023 Fiscal Year Final Research Report
Sexual representation of social memory in the hippocampus
| Project/Area Number |
21H02593
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| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B)
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| Allocation Type | Single-year Grants |
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| Section | 一般 |
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| Review Section |
Basic Section 46030:Function of nervous system-related
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| Research Institution | The University of Tokyo |
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Principal Investigator |
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| Project Period (FY) |
2021-04-01 – 2024-03-31
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| Keywords | 社会性記憶 / 海馬腹側CA1ニューロン / 性 / 行動神経科学 / 神経生理学 |
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| Outline of Final Research Achievements |
Many social animals, including humans, create adaptive societies by recognizing other individuals (i.e.social memory) and behaving appropriately towards them. The recall of sex-specific information -'male and female'-about these remembered individuals is critically important for behavioral choices such as mating and aggression.However, the neural mechanisms underlying sexual representation of social memory are largely unknown. Our study analyzed how sex information of remembered individuals is represented in the ventral CA1 neurons in the hippocampus, where social memory engrams are stored. Through experiments utilizing optogenetic techniques in behavioral neuroscience and electrophysiological methods in neurophysiology, we elucidated the mechanisms of neural representation of other's properties, such as sex and strain information.
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| Free Research Field |
行動神経科学
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| Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements |
これまで「性の認識」の理解を目指して、フェロモンによる感覚入力やその情報処理を司る神経回路の研究が、精力的に進められてきたが、それらの研究の大半は、他者マウスと直接接触した際の神経活動を解析するものであるため、我々が「性を思考」する際の神経メカニズムは不明であった。一方、本研究は「認識」と「思考」を実験的に切り分けるため、海馬の記憶ニューロンそのものを光遺伝学的に刺激することにより、他者マウスが存在しない実験下、すなわち、「認識」を完全に排除した条件下において、行動定量を行い社会性記憶に格納された情報のみを抽出した。
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