Optogenetic study for astrocyte-dependent signaling and motor learning

2014 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 25640017
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Neurophysiology / General neuroscience
• Research Institution: The Institute of Physical and Chemical Research
• Principal Investigator: YOUICHI Iwai 独立行政法人理化学研究所, 脳科学総合研究センター, 研究員 (40332332)
• Project Period (FY): 2013-04-01 – 2015-03-31
• Keywords: グリア光遺伝学 / Gタンパク質共役型受容体（GPCR） / アストロサイト / グリア－ニューロン相互作用 / グリア由来可塑性因子 / 運動学習

Outline of Final Research Achievements

In order to directly examine astrocyte-dependent signaling and motor learning, we have generated transgenic mice in which OptoXR, an optically activatable Gq-coupled receptor (Airan et al. 2009), is selectively expressed in astrocytes. We successfully confirmed that Ca2+ elevations were triggered in OptoXR-expressing astrocytes by brief illumination of blue light in anesthetized conditions. We found that astrocytic Ca2+ propagation is induced depending on the stimulus condition, as naive astrocytes also exhibited Ca2+ surges with a delay after the activation of the neighboring OptoXR-expressing astrocytes. We further observed that the surrounding neurons could be activated following the illumination. We are currently exploring these astrocyte-dependent signaling mechanisms, and conducting behavioral experiments in which motor cortex of the transgenic mice are illuminated during motor-learning.

Free Research Field

神経科学