Tract-tracing studies of the cingulate cortex and anterior thalamus
Research members： Dr. SHIBATA Hideshi
Research fields： Animal life science, Basic medicine, Brain sciences
Departments： Institute of Agriculture, Laboratory of Veterinary Anatomy
Keywords： cerebral cortex, dorsal thalamus, neural circuits, memory, learning
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Summary
Studying normal functioning of memory and learning in the brain is essential for animals as well as for humans to have healthy daily lives. Such studies may lead to develop new diagnostics and therapeutics for animals and humans that suffer memory and cognitive disfunction. To understand memory mechanisms such as acquisition, storage, and recall, it is essential to perform not only molecular biological and clinical studies but also neuroanatomical studies to clarify the neural circuits between the many brain regions that are involved in memory and learning. In the brain, the cingulate cortex and anterior thalamus in the limbic structures are important regions that process information of spatial memory (i.e., memory about the location of a place and animal itself in the environment). These brain regions are not uniform structures, but consist of the many subregions that have been shown to play different roles in spatial memory processes. However, the neural circuit between these subregions has not been clarified yet. In my laboratory, we are now analyzing neural circuitry within and between the cingulate cortex and anterior thalamus with neuroanatomical tract tracers in rabbits, which have well developed and differentiated limbic structures.
Reference articles and patents
1. Shibata, H. and Y. Honda (2015) Thalamocortical projections of the anteroventral thalamic nucleus in the rabbit. Journal of Comparative Neurology 523: 726-741.
2. Shibata, H. and Y. Honda (2012) Thalamocortical projections of the anterodorsal thalamic nucleus in the rabbit. Journal of Comparative Neurology 520: 2647-2656.
3. Honda, Y., T. Furuta, T. Kaneko, H. Shibata, and H. Sasaki (2011) Patterns of axonal collateralization of single layer V cortical projection neurons in the rat presubiculum. Journal of Comparative Neurology 519: 1395-1412.
4. Shibata, H., Y. Honda, H. Sasaki, and J. Naito (2009) Organization of intrinsic connections of the retrosplenial cortex in the rat. Anatomical Science International 84: 280-292.
5. Shibata, H. and Yukie, M. (2009) Thalamocingulate connections in the monkey. In: Vogt, B.A. ed. Cingulate Neurobiology and Disease. Oxford University Press. pp. 95-111.
6. Yukie, M. and Shibata, H. (2009) Temporocingulate interactions in the monkey. In: Vogt, B.A. ed. Cingulate Neurobiology and Disease. Oxford University Press. pp. 145-162.
7. Shibata, H. and J. Naito (2008) Organization of anterior cingulate and frontal cortical projections to the retrosplenial cortex in the rat. Journal of Comparative Neurology 506: 30-45.
Contact
University Research Administration Center(URAC),
Tokyo University of Agriculture andTechnology
urac[at]ml.tuat.ac.jp
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