Keio University School of Medicine states that the motivation disorder seen in many neurological disorders such as dementia and cerebrovascular accidents is caused by damage or dysfunction of the nerves that send information from the striatum (* 1) in the brain to the outside. Research groups such as Associate Professor Kenji Tanaka, Professor Masaru Mimura, and Professor Hideyuki Okano have identified it.The motivation disorder after brain damage is likely to be good news for patients because no cure has been established so far.
Professor Masahiko Watanabe of Hokkaido University Graduate School of Medicine, Assistant Professor Hiroyuki Ota of National Defense Medical College, and Assistant Professor Hiromi Sano of National Institute for Physiological Sciences, National Institute of Natural Sciences also participated in the research group.
According to Keio University, the research group is one of the cell populations that make up the striatum, and dopamine plays a role in sending information to the outside, based on the clinical results that damage to the striatum frequently causes motivation disorders. Focus on receptor type 1 positive medium spiny neurons.A genetically modified mouse capable of removing this neuron at any time was created and tested.
When only this neuron in a genetically modified mouse was killed with a neurotoxin, it was found that cell death in only 17% of the area caused motivation.The results were the same when the function was suppressed by methods other than neurotoxin, demonstrating that this neuron is essential for ambitious behavior.
In the future, the research group will use genetically modified mice to search for drugs that improve motivation disorders.
* 1 A part involved in striatal movement control, etc., located in the deep part of the brain surrounded by the cerebral cortex.
