2021 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

Development of comprehensive membrane voltage imaging techniques to elucidate the neuronal basis for the emergence of " individuality"

Planned Research

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Project Area	Integrative research toward elucidation of generative brain systems for individuality
Project/Area Number	16H06532
Research Category	Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research on Innovative Areas (Research in a proposed research area)
Allocation Type	Single-year Grants
Review Section	Complex systems
Research Institution	Tokushima Bunri University
Principal Investigator	Tominaga Takashi 徳島文理大学, 神経科学研究所, 教授 (20344046)
Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha)	種村健太郎東北大学, 農学研究科, 教授 (20332322) 梶原利一明治大学, 理工学部, 専任准教授 (60356772) 高島一郎国立研究開発法人産業技術総合研究所, 情報・人間工学領域, 上級主任研究員 (90357351)
Project Period (FY)	2016-06-30 – 2021-03-31
Keywords	脳機能イメージング / 膜電位感受性色素
Outline of Final Research Achievements	The purpose of this study is to understand the emergent mechanism of "individuality" that guarantees the diversity of human behavior. In this project, we aim to develop measurement and evaluation techniques for brain circuit functions using experimental animals (mice and rats). The emergence of "individuality" depends on the function of large-scale, complex neural circuits consisting of many neurons and glial cells. To date, measurement methods of such neural circuit function is limited. In addition, the differences in the neural circuit functions responsible for the "individuality" are too small to detect and are easily hidden in the variability. Here, we have created a measurement technique using membrane voltage measurement with voltage-sensitive dyes to precisely capture the dynamics of large-scale neural circuit function.
Free Research Field	神経科学
Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements	社会がさまざまな価値を生み出す力は、社会を作る多様な「個性」に依存する。それを創発（生み出す）するメカニズムを知ることは、根本的に重要である。脳が「個性」を生み出す仕組みはまだほとんど知られていない。これは測る方法がないためである。今回、脳の働きに一番重要な神経細胞の膜電位を多数の細胞から同時に正確に読み出す技術が開発できた。これにより「個性」を生み出すメカニズムを調べることができるようになった。