Takashi Z. Nakano

Exclusive and common targets of neostriatofugal projections of rat striosome neurons: a single neuron-tracing study using a viral vector

The rat neostriatum has a mosaic organization composed of striosome/patch compartments embedded in a more extensive matrix compartment, which are distinguished from each other by the input–output organization as well as by the expression of many molecular markers. The matrix compartment gives rise to the dual γ‐aminobutyric acid (GABA)ergic striatofugal systems, i.e. direct and indirect pathway neurons, whereas the striosome compartment is considered to involve direct pathway neurons alone. Although the whole axonal arborization of matrix striatofugal neurons has been examined in vivo by intracellular staining, that of striosome neurons has never been studied at the single neuron level. In the present study, the axonal arborizations of single striosome projection neurons in rat neostriatum were visualized in their entirety using a viral vector expressing membrane‐targeted green fluorescent protein, and compared with that of matrix projection neurons. We found that not only matrix but also striosome compartments contained direct and indirect pathway neurons. Furthermore, only striatonigral neurons in the striosome compartment projected directly to the substantia nigra pars compacta (SNc), although they sent a substantial number of axon collaterals to the globus pallidus, entopeduncular nucleus and/or substantia nigra pars reticulata. These results suggest that striosome neurons play a more important role in the formation of reward‐related signals of SNc dopaminergic neurons than do matrix neurons. Together with data from previous studies in the reinforcement learning theory, our results suggest that these direct and indirect striosome–SNc pathways together with nigrostriatal dopaminergic neurons may help striosome neurons to acquire the state‐value function.

High-level transgene expression in neurons by lentivirus with Tet-Off system

We developed novel lentiviral vectors by using Tet-Off system and succeeded in achieving high-level and neuron-specific gene transduction in vivo. One week after viral injection into the rat neostriatum, the GFP expression was almost completely neuron-specific and about 40 times higher than the expression of a conventional lentiviral vector. High transcriptional activity and neuronal specificity were sustained for up to 8 weeks. Furthermore, neuronal processes of the infected neurons were efficiently visualized by adding a plasma membrane-targeting signal to GFP. These results suggest that the present method is valuable for strong gene transduction and clear visualization of neurons in vivo.

Quarkyonic Matter in Lattice QCD at Strong Coupling

We study the phase diagram of quark matter at finite temperature and density in the strong coupling lattice QCD with one species of unrooted staggered fermions including finite coupling (

Chiral and deconfinement transitions in strong coupling lattice QCD with finite coupling and Polyakov loop effects

1/g^2

Phase diagram evolution at finite coupling in strong coupling lattice QCD

) effects for color SU(

Effective Potential in the Strong-coupling Lattice QCD with Next-to-Next-to-Leading Order Effects

N_c

QCD phase diagram at finite baryon and isospin chemical potentials in the Polyakov loop extended quark meson model with vector interaction

). We find that we may have partially chiral restored medium density matter at

A single-neuron tracing study of arkypallidal and prototypic neurons in healthy rats

N_c=3

Possibility of QCD critical point sweep during black hole formation

, which would correspond to the quarkyonic matter suggested at large

Auxiliary field Monte Carlo simulation of strong-coupling lattice QCD for QCD phase diagram

N_c