Laboratories
Laboratory for Neuron-Glia Circuitry
Hajime HIRASE
Laboratory Head
Hajime HIRASE (Ph.D.)
mail

Research Areas

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 Subject

  1. Intracellular recording and imaging of rodent CNS astrocytes in vivo
  2. Multi-channel recording of cortical and hippocampal local field potential

Related links

  1. RIKEN Brain Science Institute Website_Laboratories PageNew Window
  2. Individual Website Laboratory PageNew Window

Press release

October 22, 2008
Regulation of neuronal activity by S100B protein, secreted by the brain glial cells, supporting the presence of a signaling pathway, mediated by the secreted protein, from glial cells to neurons

RIKEN RESEARCH

March 27, 2009
Reciprocal communication
Brain cells called astrocytes secrete the S100B protein to modulate the network activity of neuronsNew Window

List of Selected Publications

  1. Iwai Y, Honda S, Ozeki H, Hashimoto M, Hirase H
    "A simple head-mountable LED device for chronic stimulation of optogenetic molecules in freely moving mice"
    Neuroscience Research, (2011, in press)
  2. 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)
  3. 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)
  4. 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)
  5. 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)
  6. Hirase H, Qian L., Bartho P, Buzsaki G
    "Calcium dynamics of the cortical astrocytic network in vivo"
    PLoS Biology Vol. 2, E96 (2004)