Striatal plasticity during acquisition of Sensory-motor learning

2016 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 15H06530
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Research Activity Start-up
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Research Field: Developmental mechanisms and the body works
• Research Institution: Fukushima Medical University
• Principal Investigator: Setogawa Susumu 福島県立医科大学, 医学部, 博士研究員 (30760508)
• Project Period (FY): 2015-08-28 – 2017-03-31
• Keywords: 線条体 / 知覚―運動学習 / 運動学習 / 小動物脳機能イメージング法

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Striatum, which is one of the nuclei in basal ganglia, has an important role in sensory-motor learning. Recently, it has been reported that the task-related region shifts between the dorsolateral and the dorsomedial parts of striatum during this learning. However little is known when and how the responsible area in the striatum shifts during acquisition of associative learning. In this study, we assessed dynamic changes in patterns of the brain activation at different learning stages during an auditory discrimination task using a small-animal neuroimaging. Voxel-based statistical parametric mapping analysis revealed that the neural activities in the dorsolateral striatum increased in the middle learning phase, then turned to decrease at later learning phase. These findings suggest that the sensory-motor learning evokes dynamic shift of regional brain activation pattern within striatum.

Free Research Field

身体教育学