119 research outputs found
Geometry-Driven Shift in the Tomonaga-Luttinger Exponent of Deformed Cylinders
We demonstrate the effects of geometric perturbation on the
Tomonaga-Luttinger liquid (TLL) states in a long, thin, hollow cylinder whose
radius varies periodically. The variation in the surface curvature inherent to
the system gives rise to a significant increase in the power-law exponent of
the single-particle density of states. The increase in the TLL exponent is
caused by a curvature-induced potential that attracts low-energy electrons to
region that has large curvature.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figure
Curvature effects on collective excitations in dumbbell-shaped hollow nanotubes
We investigate surface-curvature induced alteration in the Tomonaga-Luttinger
liquid (TLL) states of a one-dimensional (1D) deformed hollow nanotube with a
dumbbell-shape. Periodic variation of the surface curvature along the axial
direction is found to enhance the TLL exponent significantly, which is
attributed to an effective potential field that acts low-energy electrons
moving on the curved surface. The present results accounts for the experimental
observation of the TLL properties of 1D metallic peanut-shaped fullerene
polymers whose enveloping surface is assumed to be a dumbbell-shaped hollow
tube.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure
A novel symmetry in nanocarbons: pre-constant discrete principal curvature structure
Since the first-principles calculations in quantum chemistry precisely
provide possible configurations of carbon atoms in nanocarbons, we have
analyzed the geometrical structure of the possible carbon configurations and
found that there exists a novel symmetry in the nanocarbons, i.e., the
pre-constant discrete principal curvature (pCDPC) structure. In terms of the
discrete principal curvature based on the discrete geometry for trivalent
oriented graphs developed by Kotani, Naito, and Omori (Comput. Aided Geom.
Design, , (2017), 24-54), we numerically investigated discrete
principal curvature distribution of the nanocarbons, C, carbon
nanotubes, C (C dimer), and C-polymers (peanut-shaped
fullerene polymers). While the C and nanotubes have the constant
discrete principal curvature (CDPC) as we expected, it is interesting to note
that the C-polymers and C dimer also have the almost constant
discrete principal curvature, i.e., pCDPC, which is surprising. A nontrivial
pCDPC structure with revolutionary symmetry is available due to discreteness,
though it has been overlooked in geometry. In discrete geometry, there appears
a center axisoid which is the discrete analogue of the center axis in the
continuum differential geometry but has three-dimensional structure rather than
a one-dimensional curve due to its discrete nature. We demonstrated that such
pCDPC structure exists in nature, namely in the C-polymers. Furthermore,
since we found that there is a positive correlation between the degree of the
CDPC structure and stability of the configurations for certain class of the
C-polymers, we also revealed the origin of the pCDPC structure from an
aspect of materials science.Comment: 18 page
Contribution of the Pulvinar and Lateral Geniculate Nucleus to the Control of Visually Guided Saccades in Blindsight Monkeys
After damage to the primary visual cortex (V1), conscious vision is impaired. However, some patients can respond to visual stimuli presented in their lesion-affected visual field using residual visual pathways bypassing V1. This phenomenon is called "blindsight." Many studies have tried to identify the brain regions responsible for blindsight, and the pulvinar and/or lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN) are suggested to play key roles as the thalamic relay of visual signals. However, there are critical problems regarding these preceding studies in that subjects with different sized lesions and periods of time after lesioning were investigated; furthermore, the ability of blindsight was assessed with different measures. In this study, we used double dissociation to clarify the roles of the pulvinar and LGN by pharmacological inactivation of each region and investigated the effects in a simple task with visually guided saccades (VGSs) using monkeys with a unilateral V1 lesion, by which nearly all of the contralesional visual field was affected. Inactivating either the ipsilesional pulvinar or LGN impaired VGS toward a visual stimulus in the affected field. In contrast, inactivation of the contralesional pulvinar had no clear effect, but inactivation of the contralesional LGN impaired VGS to the intact visual field. These results suggest that the pulvinar and LGN play key roles in performing the simple VGS task after V1 lesioning, and that the visuomotor functions of blindsight monkeys were supported by plastic changes in the visual pathway involving the pulvinar, which emerged after V1 lesioning.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Many studies have been devoted to understanding the mechanism of mysterious symptom called "blindsight, " in which patients with damage to the primary visual cortex (V1) can respond to visual stimuli despite loss of visual awareness. However, there is still a debate on the thalamic relay of visual signals. In this study, to pin down the issue, we tried double dissociation in the same subjects (hemi-blindsight macaque monkeys) and clarified that the lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN) plays a major role in simple visually guided saccades in the intact state, while both pulvinar and LGN critically contribute after the V1 lesioning, suggesting that plasticity in the visual pathway involving the pulvinar underlies the blindsight
Protocol for making an animal model of “blindsight” in macaque monkeys
Patients with damage to the primary visual cortex (V1) can respond correctly to visual stimuli in their lesion-affected visual field above the chance level, an ability named blindsight. Here, we present a protocol for making an animal model of blindsight in macaque monkeys. We describe the steps to perform pre-lesion training of monkeys on a visual task, followed by lesion surgery, post-lesion training, and evaluation of blindsight. This animal model can be used to investigate the source of visual awareness. For complete details on the use and execution of this protocol, please refer to Yoshida et al. (2008)1 and Takakuwa et al. (2021)
Balancing risk-return decisions by manipulating the mesofrontal circuits in primates
リスクと報酬の意思決定バランスを光で調節 --精神神経疾患などの病態解明に期待--. 京都大学プレスリリース. 2024-01-05.Lighting the Circuits to Risky Decision-Making. 京都大学プレスリリース. 2024-01-05.Decision-making is always coupled with some level of risk, with more pathological forms of risk-taking decisions manifesting as gambling disorders. In macaque monkeys trained in a high risk–high return (HH) versus low risk–low return (LL) choice task, we found that the reversible pharmacological inactivation of ventral Brodmann area 6 (area 6V) impaired the risk dependency of decision-making. Selective optogenetic activation of the mesofrontal pathway from the ventral tegmental area (VTA) to the ventral aspect of 6V resulted in stronger preference for HH, whereas activation of the pathway from the VTA to the dorsal aspect of 6V led to LL preference. Finally, computational decoding captured the modulations of behavioral preference. Our results suggest that VTA inputs to area 6V determine the decision balance between HH and LL
Cellular Injury of Cardiomyocytes during Hepatocyte Growth Factor Gene Transfection with Ultrasound-Triggered Bubble Liposome Destruction
We transfected naked HGF plasmid DNA into cultured cardiomyocytes using a sonoporation method consisting of ultrasound-triggered bubble liposome destruction. We examined the effects on transfection efficiency of three concentrations of bubble liposome (1 × 106,
1 × 107,
1 × 108/mL), three concentrations of HGF DNA (60, 120, 180 μg/mL), two insonification times (30, 60 sec), and three incubation times (15, 60, 120 min). We found that low concentrations of bubble liposome and low concentrations of DNA provided the largest amount of the HGF protein expression by the sonoporated cardiomyocytes. Variation of insonification and incubation times did not affect the amount of product. Following insonification, cardiomyocytes showed cellular injury, as determined by a dye exclusion test. The extent of injury was most severe with the highest concentration of bubble liposome. In conclusion, there are some trade-offs between gene transfection efficiency and cellular injury using ultrasound-triggered bubble liposome destruction as a method for gene transfection
MHC matching improves engraftment of iPSC-derived neurons in non-human primates.
The banking of human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-homozygous-induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) is considered a future clinical strategy for HLA-matched cell transplantation to reduce immunological graft rejection. Here we show the efficacy of major histocompatibility complex (MHC)-matched allogeneic neural cell grafting in the brain, which is considered a less immune-responsive tissue, using iPSCs derived from an MHC homozygous cynomolgus macaque. Positron emission tomography imaging reveals neuroinflammation associated with an immune response against MHC-mismatched grafted cells. Immunohistological analyses reveal that MHC-matching reduces the immune response by suppressing the accumulation of microglia (Iba-1+) and lymphocytes (CD45+) into the grafts. Consequently, MHC-matching increases the survival of grafted dopamine neurons (tyrosine hydroxylase: TH+). The effect of an immunosuppressant, Tacrolimus, is also confirmed in the same experimental setting. Our results demonstrate the rationale for MHC-matching in neural cell grafting to the brain and its feasibility in a clinical setting.Major histocompatibility complex (MHC) matching improves graft survival rates after organ transplantation. Here the authors show that in macaques, MHC-matched iPSC-derived neurons provide better engraftment in the brain, with a lower immune response and higher survival of the transplanted neurons
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