Early dopamine disruption in the entorhinal cortex of a knock-in model of Alzheimer’s disease
Tatsuki Nakagawa, Jiayun L Xie, Marjan Savadkohighodjanaki, Yutian J Zhang, Heechul Jun, Kai Cao, Ayana Ichii, Jason Y Lee, Shogo Soma, Yasmeen K Medhat, Takaomi C Saido & Kei M. Igarashi*
Nature Neuroscience (2026)
DOI: 10.1038/s41593-026-02260-w
中川達貴助教の筆頭著者論文。
これまでアルツハイマー病には関与しないと考えられていたドーパミンの不足が、アルツハイマー病の記憶障害を引き起こす一因となることを発見しました。
ドーパミン治療薬を用いたアルツハイマー病治療への道を開くものとして期待されます。
東北大学プレスリリース：
ドーパミン不足がアルツハイマー病の記憶障害を引き起こすことを発見
－ドーパミンを用いた新たな治療法の開発を目指す－
Prefrontal and lateral entorhinal neurons
co-dependently learn item–outcome rules
Heechul Jun†, Jason Y. Lee†, Nicholas R. Bleza, Ayana Ichii, Jordan D. Donohue, & Kei M. Igarashi*
Nature (2024)
DOI: 10.1038/s41586-024-07868-1
Where in the brain is abstract map generated?
It is the lateral entorhinal cortex (LEC) and the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), working together!!
UCI NEWS: UC Irvine discovery of ‘item memory’ brain cells offers new Alzheimer’s treatment target
Entorhinal cortex dysfunction
in Alzheimer’s disease
Kei M Igarashi*
Trends in Neurosciences (2023)
doi.org/10.1016/j.tins.2022.11.006
*Cover Article
The cover illustration was made by Aehyn Shin
Reconciling neuronal representations of schema, abstract task structure, and categorization
under cognitive maps in the
entorhinal-hippocampal-frontal circuits
Kei M Igarashi*, Jason Y Lee & Heechul Jun
Curr Opin Neurobiol (2022)
doi: 10.1016/j.conb.2022.102641
Tsukasa Funane†, Heechul Jun†, Stephanie Sutoko†, Takaomi C Saido, Akihiko Kandori, Kei M Igarashi*
Front Syst Neurosci (2022)
https://doi.org/10.3389/fnsys.2022.955178 (2022)
Dopamine facilitates associative memory encoding in the entorhinal cortex
Jason Y. Lee†, Heechul Jun†, Shogo Soma†, Tomoaki Nakazono†, Kaori Shiraiwa, Ananya Dasgupta, Tatsuki Nakagawa, Jiayun L. Xie, Jasmine Chavez, Rodrigo Romo, Sandra Yungblut, Meiko Hagihara, Koshi Murata & Kei M. Igarashi*
Nature (2021)
DOI: 10.1038/s41586-021-03948-8
We found that dopamine facilitates associative memory encoding of fan cells in the lateral entorhinal cortex. Collaborative work by Jason, Heechul, Shogo & Tom.
UCI NEWS: New research “sniffs out” how associative memories are formed
Disrupted Place Cell Remapping and Impaired Grid Cells in a Knockin Model of Alzheimer’s Disease
Heechul Jun, Shogo Soma, Takashi Saito, Takaomi C Saido, Kei M Igarashi*
Neuron (2020)
107:1095-1112
Heechul found that the remapping of place cells and grid cells were impaired in a third generation Alzheimer’s disease mouse model.
Our work suggests that spatial memory loss in Alzheimer’s patients is caused by the remapping impairment of place cells in the hippocampus.
Preview in Neuron
The Sound of Silence: Hidden Responses of Neural Circuits to Alzheimer-Linked Mutations
Press release from UCI School of Medicine
New discovery reveals brain network mechanism that causes spatial memory impairment in Alzheimer’s disease
Discussion in AlzForum
In APP Knock-In Mice, Spatial Mapping Circuitry Crumbles