Clarification of the physiological role of amygdalohippocampal area

2014 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 25640026
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Nerve anatomy/Neuropathology
• Research Institution: Nagasaki University (2014); Institute of Physical and Chemical Research (2013)
• Principal Investigator: ARUGA Jun 長崎大学, 医歯薬学総合研究科(医学系), 教授 (10232076)
• Project Period (FY): 2013-04-01 – 2015-03-31
• Keywords: 扁桃体海馬野 / Zic2 / 遺伝子変異マウス / 攻撃行動 / 恐怖記憶

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Amygdalohippocampal area (AHA) is located caudally to the amygdalar nuclei, between the amygdala and hippocampus. We found that Zic2 protein is strongly distributed in AHA. We previously showed that Zic2-hypomorphic mutant mice exhibit decreased aggressive behaviors in resident-intruder test and social predominance test. To clarify the role of Zic2 in AHA, we generated Zic2 conditional knockout mice lacking Zic2 in pallium. The mice showed a marked decrement of cell numbers in AHA and an impaired contextual fear memory. We also found that the mice-deficient in Rines, an E3 ubiquitin ligase that degrades Zic2, show reduced aggressive behavior.

Free Research Field

神経生物学