3 Best Neuroscience in Japan for 2024

To elucidate the brain functions, it is essential not only to conduct micro-level research such as the conduction of electrical signals and chemical transmission by neurotransmitters, but also the system-level research on how they “function as a circuit” and “connect to actual thoughts and actions.” The Department of Physiology 2 grapples with this arduous but interesting problem by utilizing primates whose brain structure is similar to that of humans, by electrophysiological and pharmacological approaches. The current main theme is the elucidation of mechanisms by which emotion, memory, and attention change the decision-making process and actions. We dream of discovering the universal principle of calculation processing in the brain.

The School of Life Science offers a variety of subjects in the fields of nutrition science for health enhancement and management, architecture for living environment, and biology for the regional environment. Students are supposed to learn about and understand the relationship between academic study and livelihood.

Parkinson's disease (PD) is the second most common neurodegenerative disease after Alzheimer's disease (ATD). The general prevalence is said to be about 150 / 100,000, but there are reports that the number of elderly people in their 70s is over 800, and the number of PD patients is already increasing in Japan, which is a super-aging society. Lewy body dementias, which is associated with dementia and psychiatric symptoms, is also attracting attention as the number of elderly PDs increases. In addition, since the gene analysis of large family PD in the United States in 1997, the gene analysis of familial PD has been actively performed, but the familial PD family called PARK8 was reported by Kitasato University. .. The pathological condition is a decrease in dopamine in the striatum due to degeneration of the substantia nigra, and drug therapy is the main focus. In recent years, a group of diseases in which a specific host protein becomes sparingly soluble due to its higher-order structural conversion and abnormal proteins accumulate in tissues and cells have attracted attention as conformational diseases. 1998 α-synuclein is the main Lewy body. It is a constituent and is considered to be a typical disease along with ATD. Our group provides state-of-the-art medical treatments with high evidence for related diseases, including Parkinson's disease. Furthermore, in these degenerative diseases, poorly soluble proteins accumulated in tissues and cells cause dysfunction of nerve cells, so suppression or elimination of abnormal proteins is considered to be a therapeutic target, and based on these, part of the pathogenesis and treatment We are promoting research to take on the role.