2018 Fiscal Year Annual Research Report
Risk of hypothermia for memory function
Publicly Offered Research
| Project Area | "LIVING IN SPACE" - Integral Understanding of life-regulation mechanism from "SPACE" |
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| Project/Area Number |
18H04966
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| Research Institution | University of Tsukuba |
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Principal Investigator |
ラザルス ミハエル 筑波大学, 国際統合睡眠医科学研究機構, 准教授 (80469650)
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| Project Period (FY) |
2018-04-01 – 2020-03-31
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| Keywords | 低体温状態 / 記憶固定 / 薬理遺伝学 |
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| Outline of Annual Research Achievements |
Whereas hibernation is common in rodents and other animals, there are only a very few cases of suspected hibernation or states similar to hibernation in humans. Induced hibernation, also known as suspended animation, is the slowing or stopping of life processes without termination by cooling the body down. This technology has great potential for long distance space travel and medicine. Induced hypothermia has been used for open-heart surgeries and other clinical procedures, but the risk for brain functions is largely unknown. In this research, we plan to elucidate the effects of genetically or pharmacologically induced hypothermia on the consolidation of fear or spatial memories.
We have established chemogenetic and pharmacologic methods to induce hypothermia in mice. For the chemogenetic method, we have used an innovative genetically engineered system to induce hypothermia by activating GABAergic neurons in the median preoptic area of the hypothalamus. For the pharmacologic method, we used an adenosine A2A receptor agonist which strongly decreases body temperature. By using these methods, we observed that hypothermia may be beneficial for the suppression of traumatic memories.
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| Current Status of Research Progress |
Current Status of Research Progress
2: Research has progressed on the whole more than it was originally planned.
Reason
We succeeded in developing methods to induce hypothermia in mice which is the most challenging aspect of the research project. We will proceed to elucidate the effects of chemogeneticallly and pharmacologically induced hypothermia on memory.
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| Strategy for Future Research Activity |
While our current findings may reveal that hypothermia is beneficial to suppress memories of traumatic events, hypothermia may be a risk for hippocampus-dependent memories, for example spatial memory that is important for navigation. Therefore, we aim to investigate the behavior of mice after chemogenetically induced hypothermia in spatial memory paradigms, for example, Morris water navigation task and radial arm maze.
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Research Products
(2 results)
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[Journal Article] Enhancing endogenous adenosine A2A receptor signaling induces slow-wave sleep without affecting body temperature and cardiovascular function2019
Author(s)
Korkutata Mustafa, Saitoh Tsuyoshi, Cherasse Yoan, Ioka Shuji, Duo Feng, Qin Rujie, Murakoshi Nobuyuki, Fujii Shinya, Zhou Xuzhao, Sugiyama Fumihiro, Chen Jiang-Fan, Kumagai Hidetoshi, Nagase Hiroshi, Lazarus Michael
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Journal Title
Neuropharmacology
Volume: 144
Pages: 122-132
DOI
Peer Reviewed / Int'l Joint Research
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