Elucidation of the neural system of obsessive-compulsive disorder using the optogenetic stimulation of serotonergic neuron

2014 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 25893204
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Research Activity Start-up
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Research Field: Psychiatric science
• Research Institution: Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine
• Principal Investigator: SAKAI Yuki 京都府立医科大学, 医学(系)研究科(研究院), 特任講師 (60714475)
• Project Period (FY): 2013-08-30 – 2015-03-31
• Keywords: 強迫性障害 / 機能的MRI(fMRI) / オプトジェネティクス / セロトニン

Outline of Final Research Achievements

We conducted optogenetic stimulation in the hippocampus of anesthetized transgenic mice and confirmed that we could evaluate brain-wide responses using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) (Takata 2015). We constructed experimental system which can evaluate the brain response evoked by optogenetic stimulation in non-anesthetized mice and confirmed there are few motion artifacts. We found that there are significant differences in brain networks between anesthetized and non-anesthetized condition or before and after administration of serotonin enhancers using our novel system.
We have collected the human resting-state fMRI data of patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) to achieve the translational research of serotonergic system. Our preliminary results showed the possibility that we could discriminate OCD patients from healthy subjects especially using the brain networks though the striatum or frontal cortex consistent with our hypothesis.

Free Research Field

精神疾患