Population analysis of the neuronal activity in the Drosophila Mushroom bodies underlying olfactory memory

2015 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 26840112
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Animal physiology/Animal behavior
• Research Institution: The University of Tokyo
• Principal Investigator: HIROI MAKOTO 東京大学, 分子細胞生物学研究所, 助教 (80597831)
• Project Period (FY): 2014-04-01 – 2016-03-31
• Keywords: 記憶・学習 / ショウジョウバエ / 嗅覚 / 味覚 / 神経可塑性 / カルシウムイメージング

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Neural plasticity is a key feature of neurons tο establish learning and memory and, in Drosophila olfactory memory, it has been known that the Mushroom body (MB) plays a pivotal role. To understand the neural circuits, I established a live calcium imaging setup where cellular activities from neurons of MB are simultaneously being monitored before, during and after a training session. Our lab has focused on MB cells with CREB-positive (CRE-p cells) and analyzed activities on the CRE-p related cells in this study. 1) Recordings from dopaminergic neurons that sends their dendrites to CRE-p cells. 2) Recordings from output neurons (MBONs) from CRE-p MB cells. 3) I found that at least 2 MBONs showed training-related plasticity. 4) The 2 MBONs shows an opposite plasticity after a training - one increases and the other decreases responses to a learned odor.

Free Research Field

神経生物学