Cellular- and synapse-level interaction across multiple cortical areas

2017 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 25221001
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (S)
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Research Field: Neurophysiology / General neuroscience
• Research Institution: The University of Tokyo (2016-2017); Kyushu University (2013-2015)
• Principal Investigator: Ohki Kenichi 東京大学, 大学院医学系研究科(医学部), 教授 (50332622)
• Co-Investigator(Renkei-kenkyūsha): KONDO Satoru 東京大学, 大学院医学系研究科, 講師 (20301757) ; Okuno Hiroyuki 京都大学, 大学院医学研究科, 特定準教授 (80272417)
• Project Period (FY): 2013-05-31 – 2018-03-31
• Keywords: 大脳皮質 / 視覚野 / 高次視覚野 / 領野間相互作用 / ２光子イメージング / カルシウムイメージング / 軸索イメージング / シナプス

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Information processing in the brain is achieved via interactions between many areas. To understand the overall picture of interactions between multiple areas and further elucidate the neural circuits underlying such interactions at synapse level, we achieved the following three goals. (1) We developed a method of wide-field calcium imaging and functional mapping of the entire mouse cortex. We elucidated the functional differentiation of nine higher visual areas. (2) We developed a method to simultaneously monitor the neural activity and hemodynamic signal from the entire mouse cortex. We revealed that functional connectivity of hemodynamic signals, which is often used in psychiatric studies in human fMRI, is indeed derived from functional connectivity in neural activity. (3) We developed a method to visualize information transmitted between areas at synapse level. We revealed what information is transmitted from thalamus to primary visual cortex (V1), and V1 to higher visual areas.

Free Research Field

神経科学