We developed a novel method to identify spike signals of multiple projections among different brain areas. This method was realized by the automation and parallelization of spike collision tests with real-time processing of multi-channel recording and control of stimulations. Our result has been published in iScience.

The researchers have developed a novel multiplex fluorescent tyramide signal amplification system, namely, FT-GO (Fluorochromized Tyramide-Glucose Oxidase). FT-GO yielded 60 to 180 fold and 10 to 30 fold signal amplification compared with direct and indirect immunofluorescence detections, providing a versatile platform for histochemical analysis.

We succeeded in imaging of α-synuclein lesions, protein aggregates supposed to play a crucial role in neurodegenerative disorders, in the brains of living patients with multiple system atrophy. This technology is expected to be applicable to Parkinson's disease and Lewy body dementia, contributing to elucidating the etiological mechanism of these diseases. This work has been published in Movement Disorders.

It is believed that α-synuclein propagation in the brain causes the disease progression in Lewy body diseases, including Parkinson's disease and dementia with Lewy bodies. We have inoculated α-synuclein aggregates into the olfactory bulb of marmosets, which induced the α-synuclein propagation via olfactory pathway, and the brain dysfunction was revealed using positron emission tomography (PET) imaging.

We have developed a core technology that uses artificial intelligence (AI) to analyze positron emission tomography (PET) images of abnormal tau protein that accumulates in the brain in various types of dementia (tau lesions) and can automatically evaluate the accumulation pattern of tau lesions. The results of this research have been published in Movement Disorders.

This study revealed that both VPA-exposed ASD model marmosets and control marmosets showed similar diurnal changes in cortisol levels, which were lower in the afternoon than in the morning. However, heightened cortisol levels were observed in VPA-exposed marmosets at the times examined in this study. These results are consistent with those of ASD in humans.

A research team of the University of Tokyo has successfully elucidated a new mechanism of the brain by which a complex neural network, including interareal connections in the cerebral cortex, is efficiently formed during development. This is the first study investigating comprehensively how interareal connections among cortical and thalamic regions are formed during development. This study is expected to be applied in the future to treatments for diseases such as congenital blindness and to circuit formation algorithms to improve an artificial intelligence.