The University of Tokyo · Neuroscience
Professor Satoshi Kida's research lab focuses on the neural mechanisms underlying fear memory regulation, with a particular emphasis on the roles of adult hippocampal neurogenesis, synaptic plasticity, and key signaling molecules such as CREB and alpha-CaMKII. The lab investigates how molecular and cellular processes—including memory reconsolidation, extinction, and forgetting—contribute to the pathophysiology of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and anxiety-related behaviors. Using rodent models, the lab explores how pharmacological interventions like memantine can modulate neurogenesis and memory dynamics, especially in the context of remote versus recent memories. Their work bridges molecular neuroscience with behavioral phenotypes to uncover potential therapeutic targets for psychiatric disorders.
Figures are computed from collected data and may differ slightly.
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a psychiatric disorder associated with memories of traumatic experiences. Conditioned fear memory, a representative model of traumatic memories, is observed across species from lower to higher animals, including humans. Numerous studies have investigated the mechanisms of conditioned fear memory and have led to the identification of the underlying processes involved in fear memory regulation, including cellular and systems consolidation of fear conditioni
cAMP response element-binding protein (CREB), a transcription factor, has been shown to play a central role in memory formation, and its involvement in this process has been investigated using a wide range of animal models, from nematodes to higher animals. Various CREB mutant mice have been developed and investigated. Several types of mutant mice with loss of CREB function have impaired memory formation and long-term potentiation (LTP), suggesting that CREB plays essential roles in these proces
Forgetting of recent fear memory is promoted by treatment with memantine (MEM), which increases hippocampal neurogenesis. The approaches for treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) using rodent models have focused on the extinction and reconsolidation of recent, but not remote, memories. Here we show that, following prolonged re-exposure to the conditioning context, enhancers of hippocampal neurogenesis, including MEM, promote forgetting of remote contextual fear memory. However, thes
Up-regulation of alpha-CaMKII expression in the forebrain leads to an increase in anxiety-like behaviors and offensive aggression. From the comparisons with previous findings, we suggest that the expression levels of alpha-CaMKII are associated with the state of emotion; the expression level of alpha-CaMKII positively correlates with the anxiety state and strongly affects aggressive behavior.
Memory retrieval is not a passive process. When a memory is retrieved, the retrieved memory is destabilized, similar to short-term memory just after learning, and requires memory reconsolidation to re-stabilize the memory. Recent studies characterizing destabilization and reconsolidation showed that a retrieved memory is not always destabilized and that there are boundary conditions that determine the induction of destabilization and reconsolidation according to certain parameters, such as the d
Adult hippocampal neurogenesis has been suggested to play modulatory roles in learning and memory. Importantly, previous studies have shown that newborn neurons in the adult hippocampus are integrated into the dentate gyrus circuit and are recruited more efficiently into the hippocampal memory trace of mice when they become 3 weeks old. Interestingly, a single high-dose treatment with the N-methyl-d-aspartate receptor antagonist memantine (MEM) has been shown to increase hippocampal neurogenesis
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a psychiatric disorder associated with memories of traumatic experiences. Recent studies have shown that the forgetting of contextual fear memory is promoted via increased adult hippocampal neurogenesis induced by neurogenesis enhancers, such as memantine (MEM) and exercise, raising the possibility that neurogenesis enhancers improve PTSD by facilitating the forgetting of traumatic memory. On the other hand, repeated exposure to social defeat (SD) stress
Our observations showed that PARP-1 activation is required for the consolidation, reconsolidation, and extinction of contextual fear memory and suggested that PARP-1 contributes to the new gene expression necessary for these memory processes.
Transcription factor CREB is believed to play essential roles in the formation of long-term memory (LTM), but not in learning and short-term memory (STM). Surprisingly, we previously showed that transgenic mice expressing a dominant active mutant of CREB (DIEDML) in the forebrain (DIEDML mice) demonstrated enhanced STM and LTM in hippocampal-dependent, rapid, one-trial learning tasks. Here we show that constitutive activation of CREB enhances hippocampal-dependent learning of temporal associatio
Dietary heat-killed SBC8803 functions as memory and neurogenesis enhancers.
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