2012 Fiscal Year Final Research Report
Neuroanatomical properties of 'time comparison circuit' in weakly electric fishes
| Project/Area Number |
22570073
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| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
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| Allocation Type | Single-year Grants |
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| Section | 一般 |
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| Research Field |
Animal physiology/Animal behavior
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| Research Institution | The Graduate University for Advanced Studies |
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Principal Investigator |
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| Research Collaborator |
KAWASAKI Masashi 米国バージニア州立大学, 生物学部, 教授
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| Project Period (FY) |
2010 – 2012
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| Keywords | 弱電気魚 / 神経伝達物質 / 時間情報 / 抑制性シナプス / 聴覚系 |
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| Research Abstract |
Weakly electric fish shows behavioral sensitivity to microsecond time difference between electrosensory signals from different body areas. The hypothetical time comparison circuit consists oftwo types of time-coding neurons and a small cell, to which the two time-coding neurons converged. Here I studied the type of synaptic transmission in the time-coding circuit in two species. I immunohistochemically found that one of the inputs of the time-coding neuron is inhibitory in Gymnarchus (mormyriform). However, in Brachyhypopomus (gymnotiform), conventional electron microscopy showed that both inputs are excitatory. This comparative analysis revealed that the topologies of time coding neurons are identical in all major groups of other weakly electric fishes so far studied. However, the modes of synaptic transmission to the small cell, a time comparator, are different between species.
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