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Life Sciences & Social Medicine
Department of Neurophysiology
Introduction
The Department was established in 1961 to cover the field of neurophysiology. The first director of the department was Dr. Susumu Tsukahara, who had studies in a field close to medical/human engineering and retired on 1987. Then Dr. Yukihiko Kayama has directed the department. Now all members are engaged in studying functions of the brain mainly by electrophysiological experiments. We have supreme techniques to record single neuronal activity and to examine effects on neurons of drugs applied micro-iontophoretically, especially in unanesthetized, behaving animals. Results of our very original studies have been published in international journals.

Members of the Department are Yukihiko Kayama (professor), Yoshimasa Koyama (associate professor), Ei-ichi Jodo (lecturer), Yaeko Ninomiya (associate), Kazumi Takahashi (associate), Nobuko Anzai (technologist), and Seiko Minagawa (secretary). We have been consecutively collaborating with Department of Psychiatry of the University and Department of Urology of Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine. Also we have had many collaborative studies with doctors in Department of Anatomy of the University, Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Gerontology, Tokyo Metropolitan Institute for Neuroscience, Osaka Bioscience Institute, Shionogi Research Laboratories, Cleveland Clinic, etc. Besides, many researchers/postgraduate students have visited our laboratory to learn techniques of experiments.
Research
We have two research groups.
One is sleep-physiology group supervised by Dr. Yoshimasa Koyama. They record single neuronal activity from brainstem cholinergic and monoaminergic neurons, or from hypothalamic neurons, in animals repeating sleep and wakefulness. They also have experiments to study sleep mechanisms with behavioral and/or pharmacological techniques. Recently, the group enlarges area of the study to central mechanism of micturition, since micturition center locates in close vicinity of the cholinergic and monoaminergic nuclei in the brainstem, and micturition system interacts with sleep-wakefulness systems.

The other group, supervised by Dr. Ei-ichi Jodo, is studying higher brain functions by recording single neuronal activity especially in prefrontal cortices. They have an unparalleled technique to let rats learn a two-tone discrimination task; with the technique they have succeeded in recording an event-related potential P300 reliably in rats. Their interest extends to pathophysiology of schizophrenia; they record neuronal activity in rats doped with phencyclidine or methamphetamine.
Education
We teach all areas of neurophysiology to medical students. For postgraduate students we offer every support for their activity to be a researcher in a field of neurophysiology.
Publications
Sleep physiology group
1.
Discrete regions in the laterodorsal tegmental area of the rat regulating the urinary bladder and external urethral sphincter. Y. Yamao, Y. Koyama, A. Kawauchi, Y. Kayama and T. Miki, Brain Research vol.912, pp.162-170, 2001.
2.
Postnatal development of choline acetyltranferase activity in the rat laterodorsal tegmental nucleus. Y. Ninomiya, Y. Koyama and Y. Kayama, Neurosci. Lett. vol.308, pp.138-140, 2001.
3.
State dependent response of the locus coeruleus neurons to bladder distention. N. Imada, Y. Koyama, A. Kawauchi, H. Watanabe and Y. Kayama, J. Urol. vol.164, pp.1740-1744, 2000.
4.
Firing of putative cholinergic neurons and micturition center neurons in the rat laterodorsal tegmentum during distention and contraction of urinary bladder. Y. Koyama, N. Imada, A. Kawauchi and Y. Kayama, Brain Research vol.840, pp.45-55, 1999.
5.
Inhibition of choline acetyltransferase activity by serum albumine modified with octanoic acid and other fatty acids. Y. Ninomiya and Y. Kayama, Neurochem. Res. vol.23, pp.1303-1311, 1998.
6.
In vivo electrophysiological distinction of histochemically identified cholinergic neurons using extracellular recording and labeling in rat laterodorsal tegmental nucleus. Y. Koyama, T. Honda, M. Kusakabe, Y. Kayama and Y. Sugiura, Neuroscience vol.83, pp.1105-1112, 1998.
7.
Possible release of nitric oxide from cholinergic axons in the thalamus by stimulation of the rat laterodorsal tegmental nucleus as measured with voltammetry. M. Miyazaki, Y. Kayama, T. Kihara, K. Kawasaki, E. Yamaguchi, Y. Wada and M. Ikeda, J. Chem. Neuroanatomy vol.10, pp.203-207, 1996.
8.
Sensory responsiveness of "broad-spike" neurons in the laterodorsal tegmental nucleus, locus coeruleus and dorsal raphe of awake rats: implications for cholinergic and monoaminergic neuron-specific responses. Y. Koyama, E. Jodo and Y. Kayama, Neuroscience vol.63, pp.1021-1031, 1994.
9.
Regulation of regional blood flow in the laterodorsal thalamus by ascending cholinergic nerve fibers from the laterodorsal tegmental nucleus. Y. Koyama, T. Toga, Y. Kayama and A. Sato, Neurosci. Res. vol.20, pp.79-84, 1994.
10.
Mutual interactions among cholinergic, noradrenergic and serotonergic neurons studied by ionophoresis of these transmitters in rat brainstem nuclei. Y. Koyama and Y. Kayama, Neuroscience vol.55, pp.1117-1126, 1993.
11.
Firing of 'possibly' cholinergic neurons in the rat laterodorsal tegmental nucleus during sleep and wakefulness. Y. Kayama, M. Ohta and E. Jodo, Brain Research vol.569, pp.210-220, 1992.
Higher brain function group
1. Acute administration of phencyclidine induces tonic activation of medial prefrontal cortex neurons in freely moving rats. Y. Suzuki, E. Jodo, S. Takeuchi, S. Niwa and Y. Kayama, Neuroscience, in press.
2. Selective responsiveness of medial prefrontal cortex neurons to the meaningful stimulus with a low probability of occurrence in rats. E. Jodo, Y. Suzuki and Y. Kayama, Brain Research vol.856, pp.68-74, 2000.
3. ERP development in the rat in the course of learning two-tone discrimination task. S. Takeuchi, E. Jodo, Y. Suzuki, T. Matsuki, K.-Y. Hoshino, S.-I. Niwa and Y. Kayama, NeuroReport vol.11, pp.333-336, 2000.
4. Effects of repeated administration of methamphetamine on P3-like potentials in rats. S. Takeuchi, E. Jodo, Y. Suzuki, T. Matsuki, S.-I. Niwa and Y. Kayama, Intl. J. Psychophysiol. vol.32, pp.183-192, 1999.
5. P3b-like potential of rats recorded in an active discrimination task. E. Jodo, S. Takeuchi and Y. Kayama, Electroenceph. Clin. Neurophysiol. vol.96, pp.555-560, 1995.
6. Relation of a negative ERP component to response inhibition in a Go/No-Go task. E. Jodo and Y. Kayama, Electroenceph. Clin. Neurophysiol. vol.82, pp.477-482, 1992.
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Yukihiko Kayama, M.D., y-kayama@fmu.ac.jp
 
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