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

Effects of metal cation doping in CeO2 support on catalytic methane steam reforming at low temperature in an electric field

Catalytic methane steam reforming was conducted at low temperature using a Pd catalyst supported on Ce1−xMxO2 (x = 0 or 0.1, M = Ca, Ba, La, Y or Al) oxides with or without an electric field (EF). The effects of the catalyst support on catalytic activity and surface proton hopping were investigated. Results show that Pd/Al-CeO2 (Pd/Ce0.9Al0.1O2) showed higher activity than Pd/CeO2 with EF, although their activity was identical without EF. Thermogravimetry revealed a larger amount of H2O adsorbed onto Pd/Al-CeO2 than onto Pd/CeO2, so Al doping to CeO2 contributes to greater H2O adsorption. Furthermore, electrochemical conduction measurements of Pd/Al-CeO2 revealed a larger contribution of surface proton hopping than that for Pd/CeO2. This promotes the surface proton conductivity and catalytic activity during EF application

HSP DNAJB8 Controls Tumor-Initiating Ability in Renal Cancer Stem-like Cells

Cancer stem-like cells (CSC) are a small population of cancer cells with superior tumor initiating, self-renewal, and differentiation properties. In this study, we show that the cancer-testis antigen and HSP40 family member DNAJB8 contributes to the CSC phenotype in renal cell carcinoma (RCC). DNAJB8 overexpression increased the percentage of side population (SP) cells representing CSCs in RCC cells, enhancing their tumor-initiating ability. Conversely, attenuation of DNAJB8 decreased SP cells and reduced tumor-initiating ability. The utility of DNAJB8 as an immunologic target was established in DNA vaccination experiments. Compared with immunization with the tumor-associated antigen survivin, which was expressed in both CSCs and non-CSCs in RCC, immunization with Dnajb8 expression plasmids yielded stronger antitumor effects. Together, our findings suggest that DNAJB8 plays a role in CSC maintenance and that it offers a candidate for CSC-targeting immunotherapy in RCC