Research outline

生体情報薬理学スタッフ写真

The cerebral cortex can perform powerful computations, including those involved in higher cognitive functions (e.g., sensory perception). These computations are achieved by cortical circuits composed of diverse individual neurons, and rely on delicate activity balance and orchestrated interplay among the neurons. Subtle imbalance and miscommunication can lead to major dysfunction, underlying many neurological disorders.

One of the common and yet unexplained features in cortical circuits is functional diversity; only a fraction of neurons in a network are highly active during particular neural processing, while the majority remain silent. However, it is not clear how functional diversity translates to circuit computations. It is also unclear how it is biologically implemented.

 

Graduate School Graduate School of Medical and Dental Sciences
Course Advanced Therapeutics Course
Field Functional Biology and Pharmacology
Department Pharmacology
Homepage http://www.kufm.kagoshima-u.ac.jp/~pharmaco/

Homepage

Contact

TEL.+81-99-275-5256 / FAX.+81-99-265-8567

Research interests

  • Probing the mechanims of non-linear computations in the mouse primary visual cortex.
  • Probing the mechanims of functional recovery in the mouse motor cortex.
  • Probing the mechanims of reward/aversion processing in the mouse prefrontal cortex.
  • Neurobiological understanding of chronic pain and development of new analgesics.
  • Energetic regulation for higher brain function

Staff

宮田篤郎 Atsuro MIYATA

Professor
Name Tatsuo SATO
Specialized field Neuroscience
Research interests

Mechanisms of nonlinear computation in the visual cortex
Mechanisms of recovery of dysfunction in the motor cortex
Mechanisms of reward-aversion information processing in the prefrontal cortex

Research Repository


栗原崇 Takashi KURIHARA

Associate Professor
Name Takashi KURIHARA
Specialized field Neuropharmacology
Research interests  

Research Repository


神戸悠輝 Yuki KAMBE

Lecturer
Name Yuki KAMBE
Specialized field Neuroscience, Endocrine and metabolism
Research interests Energetic regulation for higher brain function

Research Repository

Research results

Tatsuo Sato
  • Long-range connections enrich cortical computations. Sato TK* Neurosci Res. 2021 Jan;162:1-12. doi: 10.1016/j.neures.2020.05.004. Epub 2020 May 26.
  • Interhemispherically dynamic representation of an eye movement-related activity in mouse frontal cortex. Sato TR, Itokazu T, Osaki H, Ohtake M, Yamamoto T, Sohya K, Maki T, Sato TK* Elife. 2019 Nov 5;8:e50855. doi: 10.7554/eLife.50855.
  • Streamlined sensory motor communication through cortical reciprocal connectivity in a visually guided eye movement task. Itokazu T, Hasegawa M, Kimura R, Osaki H, Albrecht UR, Sohya K, Chakrabarti S, Itoh H, Ito T, Sato TK*, Sato TR. Nat Commun. 2018 Jan 23;9(1):338. doi: 10.1038/s41467-017-02501-4.
  • An excitatory basis for divisive normalization in visual cortex. Sato TK, Haider B, Häusser M, Carandini M. Nat Neurosci. 2016 Apr;19(4):568-70. doi: 10.1038/nn.4249. Epub 2016 Feb 15.PMID: 26878671
  • Distal connectivity causes summation and division across mouse visual cortex. Sato TK*, Hausser M, Carandini M. Nat Neurosci. 2014 Jan;17(1):30-2. doi: 10.1038/nn.3585. Epub 2013 Nov 17.
  • Traveling waves in visual cortex. Sato TK, Nauhaus I, Carandini M. Neuron. 2012 Jul 26;75(2):218-29. doi: 10.1016/j.neuron.2012.06.029.
Takashi Kurihara
  • #
  • #
  • #
  • #
Yuki Kambe
  • Pituitary Adenylate Cyclase-Activating Polypeptide in the Ventromedial Hypothalamus Is Responsible for Food Intake Behavior by Modulating the Expression of Agouti-Related Peptide in Mice. Nguyen T. T., Kambe Y., Kurihara T., Nakamachi T., Shintani N., Hashimoto H., Miyata A. Mol Neurobiol, 57(4): p. 2101-2114. 2020.
  • The dorsal hippocampal protein targeting to glycogen maintains ionotropic glutamate receptor subunits expression and contributes to working and short-term memories in mice. Kambe Y., Nguyen-Thi T., Hashiguchi K., Sameshima Y., Yamashita A., Kurihara T., Miyata A. J Pharmacol Sci. 2021.
  • The pivotal role of pituitary adenylate cyclase-activating polypeptide for lactate production and secretion in astrocytes during fear memory. Kambe Y., Yamauchi Y., Thanh Nguyen T., Thi Nguyen T., Ago Y., Shintani N., Hashimoto H., Yoshitake S., Yoshitake T., Kehr J., Kawamura N., Katsuura G., Kurihara T., Miyata A. Pharmacol Rep, 73(4): p. 1109-1121. 2021.
  • Recent behavioral findings of pathophysiological involvement of lactate in the central nervous system.Kambe Y. Biochimica et Biophysica Acta (BBA) - General Subjects, 1866(7). 2022.