Laboratory for Neuron-Glia Circuitry

The mammalian brain consists of neurons, glia, and vasculature. Among glial cells, astrocytes provide maintenance of extracellular space and metabolic support to neurons. In addition to the supportive roles of astrocytes, it has been hypothesized that astrocytes actively participate in neural information processing by releasing neurotransmitters such as glutamate and ATP. Although much of cellular and subcellular physiology of neurons and glia has been studied in great detail using in vitro preparations, network dynamics of neuron-glia circuitry remains largely unexplored in in vivo conditions. The overall goal of the Laboratory for Neuron-Glia Circuitry is to investigate neuronal and glial microcircuitry in the neocortex and hippocampus in vivo.

Research Subjects

• Neuron-glia interactions
• Reorganization of neuron-glia circuitry by experience

Publications

1. Shinohara Y, Hosoya A, Yahagi K, Ferecsko AS, Yaguchi K, Sik A, Itakura M, Takahashi M, Hirase H.:
   " Hippocampal CA3 and CA2 have distinct bilateral innervation patterns to CA1 in rodents"
   European Journal of Neuroscience, 35:702-710 (2012)
2. Takata N, Mishima T, Hisatsune C, Nagai T, Ebisui E, Mikoshiba K, Hirase H.:
   " Astrocyte calcium signaling transforms cholinergic modulation to cortical plasticity in vivo"
   Journal of Neuroscience, Vol 31, pp 18155-18165 (2011)
3. Mishima T, Hirase H.:
   " In vivo intracellular recording suggests that gray matter astrocytes in mature cerebral cortex and hippocampus are electrophysiologically homogeneous"
   Journal of Neuroscience, Vol 30, pp 3093-3100 (2010)
4. Sakatani S, Seto-Ohshima A, Shinohara Y, Yamamoto Y, Yamamoto H, Itohara S, Hirase H.:
   " Neural-activity-dependent release of S100B from astrocytes enhances kainate-induced gamma oscillations in vivo"
   Journal of Neuroscience, Vol.28, pp10928-36 (2008)
5. Takata N, Hirase H.:
   " Cortical layer 1 and layer 2/3 astrocytes exhibit distinct calcium dynamics in vivo"
   PLoS ONE. 2008 Vol.3, e2525 (2008)
6. Gulyas AI, Buzsaki G, Freund TF, Hirase H.:
   " Populations of hippocampal inhibitory neurons express different levels of cytochrome c"
   European Journal of Neuroscience Vol.23, pp2581-2594 (2006)