| 研究実績の概要 |
This year, the principal investigator has published a paper with my collaborator. The paper is about how the memory formation process can be modulated by astrocytic activities. In the work, the N-methyl-D-aspartate receptors on astrocytes were blocked. The collaborator of the principal investigator has found that the release probability of nearby neurons was modulated. To see the implication of this discovery, the principal investigator has provided a major contribution to the mathematical model to explore the astrocytic effect numerically. The principal investigator has found that the long-term synaptic plasticity between neurons will be degraded by the blockage of astrocytic N-methyl-D-aspartate receptors. Since the long-term synaptic plasticity is believed to enable memory formation, this work is important. Also, since the synaptic learning rule affected by the astrocytic activities is a common synaptic updating rule in the nervous system, this work can provide more insight into the astrocytic effect on neural systems.
On the other hand, the principal investigator has changed the focus of the primary research work from neuronal replacement to the development of the dendrites after the birth of new neurons. We found that under some rules and restrictions in the dendritic development, the neurons can generate an effective coding scheme for categorization. The principal investigator is working to gather the result for a publication.
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