Japanese Journal of Psychopharmacology

The nucleus accumbens (NAc), the ventral part of the striatum, plays a critical role in motivation, learning, and cognition in the basal ganglia circuit. Outputs of the NAc are transmitted through two parallel direct and indirect pathways. We have developed a reversible neurotransmission blocking (RNB) technique, in which neurotransmission of each pathway in the NAc is selectively blocked by specific expression of a transmission-blocking tetanus toxin (D-RNB or I-RNB). In visual cue and reversal tasks in the cross-maze, the NAc direct pathway was critical for learning acquisition...

Psychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia and depression are considered to be complex diseases that result from an interaction of many ge- netic and environmental risk factors associated with the diseases. The underlying molecular mechanisms, however, remain largely unknown and there are conditions, the treatment of which is not necessarily satisfactory due to inadequate therapeutic effect or treatment resistance. Therefore, scientific research on the brain functions and dysfunctions as well as development of better treatments is crucially important...

Visual cortical neurons selectively respond to particular features of visual stimuli. Selective visual responsiveness is modified by visual expe- rience during development. We report that fine-scale networks of precisely interconnected excitatory neurons were embedded in the rat visual cortex and suggest that this network could be a functional unit for visual information processing. We also investigated the effects of visual dep- rivation on the development of visual cortical circuits. We used two kinds of deprivation, binocular deprivation and dark rearipg, which allowed visual inputs with only diffuse light and no visual input, respectively...

Cocaine-induced neuroplasticity in brain reward circuitry consisting of the ventral tegmental area (VTA), nucleus accumbens and medial pre- frontal cortex is critical for developing cocaine addiction. Recent studies have investigated the involvement of brain areas in addition to the mesocorticolimbic circuitry in cocaine addiction. One such area is the laterodorsal tegmental nucleus (LDT). Cholinergic neurons in the LDT project to the VTA and regulate the activity of dopaminergic neurons. Using the cocaine-induced conditioned place preference (CPP) paradigm in rats, we found that the activity of LDT cholinergic neurons and cholinergic transmission-from the LDT to VTA are critical for the acquisition and expression of cocaine CPP...

Recent advances in neuroimaging studies enable us to measure brain function non-invasively. Over the past several decades, neuroimaging measurement has been substantially applied to elucidate the neurobiological mechanisms underlying major depressive disorder (MDD). Since MDD is a wide spectrum which consists of various symptoms such as low mood or loss of interest and is considered to affect a biologically het- erogeneous population, we have not yet elucidated the biological underpinnings of MDD. It seems to be more promising to consider MDD as an integral network abnormality instead of deficits in specific brain regions or neurotransmitters...

The current nomenclature is based on clinical indications; for example, drugs used for mania and psychosis are classified as "mood stabilizers" and "antipsychotic drugs", respectively. This discrepancy between their names and indications often confuses patients and their caregivers and sometimes leads to a misunderstanding of the effects of prescribed medications. In addition, up-to-date scientific knowledge on these drugs has not been reflected in the current nomenclature. To overcome these limitations of the current nomenclature, following an initiative of the European Congress of Neuropsychopharmacology (ECNP), a taskforce for psychotropic nomenclature was established with representatives from 5 international organizations, including the Asian College of Neuropsychopharmacology (AsCNP)...

Aripiprazole once-monthly (AOM) was previously approved for treatment of schizophrenia as monthly injections in the gluteal muscle. The deltoid muscle provides a more accessible injection site. The present study was conducted in Japanese schizophrenia patients as a 24-week, open-label trial that assessed the pharmacokinetics and safety of 5 sequential doses of AOM 400 mg (AOM 400) once every 4 weeks administered in the deltoid muscle. Patients treated with an oral atypical antipsychotic (other than aripiprazole) continued to receive their pre-study medication up to 14 days after the first AOM 400 injection...

Family, twin and adoption studies have revealed genetic factors involved in suicide, while the accumulation of stress and mental illnesses are major contributing factors of suicide. Since higher lethality of suicidal behavior is considered to increase familial liability to suicidal behavior, we believe biological research of completed suicide is most important for a better understanding of the pathophysiology in suicide. Dysregulated hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis has gained a special interest in the neurobiology of suicide, mostly because of the findings using a dexamethasone suppression test (DST), in which DST non-suppressors show a nearly 10-fold higher risk of completed suicide than DST suppressors in a depressed cohort...

The positive outcome that hypothermia contributes to brain and cardiac protection following ischemia has stimulated research in the development of pharmacological approaches to induce a hypothermic/hypometabolic state. Pharmacological manipulation of central autonomic thermoregulatory circuits could represent a potential target for the induction of a hypothermic state. Here we present a brief description of the CNS thermoregulatory centers and how the manipulation of these circuits can be useful in the treatment of pathological conditions such as stroke or brain hemorrhage...

Cell positioning and neuronal network formation are crucial for proper brain function. Disrupted-In-Schizophrenia 1 (DISC1) is anterogradely transported to the neurite tips, together with Lis1, and functions in neurite extension via suppression of GSK3β activity. Then, transported Lis1 is retrogradely transported and functions in cell migration. Here, we show that DISC1-binding zinc finger protein (DBZ) regulates mouse cortical cell positioning and neurite development in vivo, together with DISC1. DBZ hindered Ndel1 phosphorylation at threonine 219 and serine 251...

Capsaicin receptor TRPV1 and wasabi receptor TRPA1 are expressed in the unmyelinated C fiber nociceptors and activated by various nociceptive stimuli causing pain in our body. Their involvement in nociception was proven with behavior studies using mice lacking TRPV1 and TRPA1. TRPV1 was found to interact with a calcium-activated chloride channel, anoctamin1 (ANO1), and calcium ions entering the primary sensory neurons activated ANO1, leading to chloride efflux which resulted in further depolarization. This is a novel pain-enhancing mechanism...

Oxidative stress and neuroinflammation have recently been focused on the pathological hypotheses of schizophrenia. N-acetylcysteine (NAC) is a precursor of endogenous antioxidant glutathione and has antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and neuroprotective properties. NAC is widely available as an over-the-counter nutritional supplement. Increasing lines of evidence suggest that NAC is effective for various mental disorders. In randomized controlled trials, treatment with NAC as an add-on to antipsychotics showed beneficial effects and safety profiles in patients with chronic schizophrenia...

The concept of intermediate phenotype was proposed by Dr. Weinberger of the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). The risk genes for mental disorders define intermediate phenotypes, neurobiological characteristics observed in psychiatric disorders, and intermediate phenotypes increase the risk of mental disorders. The author worked at Dr. Weinberger's laboratory, and after returning home, introduced the concept to Japan, creating a term "Chukanhyogengata" to translate "intermediate phenotype". Intermediate phenotype has been proposed as a tool for the identification of risk genes for mental disorders, spreading the concept as a biomarker for the bridging between genes and behaviors...

Anticholinergic activity (AA) is generally thought to cause cognitive dysfunction, especially in Alzheimer's disease (AD), one of the neurocognitive disorders related to memory disturbances. Therefore, it is important to evaluate cognitive functions to determine whether they are associated with anticholinergic burden. In Japan, the most frequently used cognitive scale for evaluating cognitive functions is the revised version of Hasegawa's Dementia Rating Scale (HDS-R). However, the relationship between anticholinergic burden and cognitive functions has not been previously examined using the HDS-R...

The basal ganglia are key neural substrates that control not only motor balance but also emotion, motivation, cognition, learning, and decision-making. Dysfunction of the basal ganglia leads to neurodegenerative diseases (e.g. Parkinson's disease and Huntington's disease) and psychiatric disorders (e.g. drug addiction, schizophrenia, and depression). In the basal ganglia circuit, there are two important pathways: the direct and indirect striatal pathways. Recently, new molecular techniques that activate or inactive selectively the direct or indirect pathway neurons have revealed the function of each pathway...

Organisms living outside of tropical zones experience seasonal changes in environment. Organisms are using day length as a calendar to change their physiology and behavior such as seasonal breeding, hibernation, migration, and molting. A comparative biology approach revealed underlying mechanisms of vertebrate seasonal reproduction. Here we review the current understanding of vertebrate seasonal reproduction. We Aso describe the involvement of tissue-specific post-translational modification in functional diversification of a hormone...

Optogenetics is a recently developed experimental technique to control the activity of neurons using light. Optogenetics shows its power to reveal the physiological role of specific neural circuits in the brain. In particular, manipulation of a specific type of neurons using optogenetics with high accuracy timing enables us to analyze causality between neural activity and initiation of animal behaviors. However, to manipulate the activity of specific neurons in vivo, there are two critical steps to succeed in manipulation of the neural activity and control of the behavior of individual animals...

Genetic factors are involved in determinants for the risk of psychiatric disorders, and neurological and neurodegenerative diseases. Chronic pain stimuli and intense pain have effects at a cellular and/or gene expression level, and will eventually induce "cellular memory due to pain", which means that tissue damage, even if only transient, can elicit epigenetically abnormal transcription/translation and post-translational modification in related cells depending on the degree or kind of injury or associated conditions...

The prevailing view is that both glutamic (Glu) and gamma-aminobutyric (GABA) acids play a role as an amino acid neurotransmitter released from neurons. However, little attention has been paid to the possible expression and functionality of signaling machineries required for amino acidergic neurotransmission in cells other than central neurons. In line with our first demonstration of the presence of Glu receptors outside the brain, in this review I will outline our recent findings accumulated since then on the physiological and pathological significance of neuronal amino acids as an extracellular signal essential for homeostasis in a variety of phenotypic cells...

Schizophrenia and bipolar disorder show high comorbidity with smoking dependence. Several previous studies reported that glycogen synthase kinase 3β (GSK3β), which is widely expressed in the brain including the dopamine projection areas such as the amygdala, nucleus accumbens and hippocampus, may play a role in neuropsychiatric disorders and dopamine- and serotonin-mediated behavior. In this study, we have analyzed the association of three single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) within GSK3β gene (rs3755557, rs334558, rs6438552) with the smoking habits and age at smoking initiation in a sample of 384 young adult Japanese, which included 172 smokers and 212 non-smokers...