Department：Neurology
Medical School：The Graduate University for Advanced Studies (SOKENDAI), Japan
Academic Rank：Professor
Molecular and cellular mechanisms of evolution and development in primate brains, especially in the visual system.
Member, Society for Neuroscience, United States
Editor, Frontiers in Neuroanatomy
What is the fundamental difference between primate brains from rodent brains, which enables highly cognitive functions? Primate brains are thought to be evolved within 50 million years, while the history of vertebrate nervous systems is estimated to be 500 million years, and the history of eukaryotes is estimated to be 3 billion years. Primate brains appear very complicated, but actually evolved quickly by relatively minor changes of genetic programs, perhaps? Whereas subcortical and cerebellar structures are well-conserved between rodents and primates, the cerebral cortex is distinct in primates in terms of size and complexity.
Toru Takahata, PhD. has been studying to seek answers for questions above. His major achievements are:
(1) OCC1, Tes-1 and several other genes are preferentially expressed in the primary visual cortex (V1) of macaques, and this unique heterogeneity in cortical gene expression is more conspicuous in closer species to humans and not observed in non-primate mammalian species;
(2) ocular dominance columns (ODCs) of V1 are more conserved among mammalian species than previously estimated, and there are more functional compartments within ODCs than previously thought.
Takahata, T., Patel, N. B., Balaram, P., Chino, Y. M., Kaas, J. H. Long-term histological changes in the macaque primary visual cortex and the lateral geniculate nucleus after monocular deprivation produced by early restricted retinal lesions and diffuser induced form deprivation. (2018) J Comp Neurol 526 (18): 2955-2972.
Takahata, T., and Kaas, J. H. c-FOS expression in the visual system of tree shrews after monocular inactivation. (2017) J Comp Neurol 525 (1): 151-165.
Takahata, T. What does cytochrome oxidase histochemistry represent in the visual cortex? (2016) Front Neuroanat Jul 20; 10: 79.
Hackett, T. A., Clause, A. R., Takahata, T., Hackett, N. J., and Polley, D. B. Differential maturation of vesicular glutamate and GABA transporter expression in the mouse auditory forebrain during the first weeks of hearing. (2016) Brain Struct Funct 221 (5): 2619-2673.
Laing, R. J., Turecek, J., Takahata, T., and Olavarria, J. F. Identification of eye-specific domains and their relation to callosal connections in primary visual cortex of Long Evans rats. (2015) Cerebral Cortex 25 (10): 3314-3329.
Takahata, T., Miyashita, M., Tanaka, S. and Kaas, J. H. Identification of ocular dominance domains in New World owl monkeys by immediate-early gene expression. (2014) Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 111 (11): 4297-4302.
Takahata, T., Shukla, R., Yamamori, T. and Kaas, J. H. Differential expression patterns of striate-cortex-enriched genes among Old World, New World and prosimian primates. (2012) Cerebral Cortex 22 (10): 2313-2321.
Balaram, P., Takahata, T. and Kaas, J. H. VGLUT2 mRNA and protein expression in the visual thalamus and midbrain of prosimian galagos (Otolemur garnetti). (2011) Eye and Brain 3: 5-15.
Hackett, T. A., Takahata, T. and Balaram, P. VGLUT1 and VGLUT2 mRNA expression in the primate auditory pathway. (2011) Hearing Research 274 (1-2): 129-141.
Takahata, T., Hashikawa, T., Tochitani, S. and Yamamori, T. Differential expression pattern of OCC1-related, extracellular matrix proteins in the lateral geniculate nucleus of macaque monkeys. (2010) Journal of Chemical Neuroanatomy 40 (2): 112-122.
Takahata, T., Higo, N., Kaas, J.H. and Yamamori, T. Expression of immediate-early genes reveals functional compartments within ocular dominance columns after brief monocular inactivation. (2009) Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 106 (29): 12151-12155.
Takahata, T., Komatsu, Y., Watakabe, A., Hashikawa, T., Tochitani, S. and Yamamori, T. Differential expression patterns of occ1-related genes in adult monkey visual cortex. (2009) Cerebral Cortex 19 (8): 1937-1951.
Watakabe, A., Komatsu, Y., Sadakane, S., Shimegi, S., Takahata, T., Higo, N., Tochitani, S., Hashikawa, T., Naito, T., Osaki, H., Sakamoto, H., Okamoto, M., Ishikawa, A., Hara, S., Akasaki, T., Sato, H. and Yamamori, T. Enriched expression of serotonin 1B and 2A receptor genes in macaque visual cortex and their bidirectional modulatory effects on neuronal responses. (2009) Cerebral Cortex 19 (8): 1915-1928.
Takahata, T., Hashikawa, T., Higo, N., Tochitani, S. and Yamamori, T. Difference in sensory dependence of occ1/Follistatin-related protein expression between macaques and mice. (2008) Journal of Chemical Neuroanatomy 35 (1):146-157.
Takahata, T., Komatsu, Y., Watakabe, A., Hashikawa, T., Tochitani, S. and Yamamori, T. Activity-dependent expression of occ1 in excitatory neurons is a characteristic feature of the primate visual cortex. (2006) Cerebral Cortex 16 (7): 929-940.
Hayashi, M., Kunii, C., Takahata, T. and Ishikawa, T. ATP-dependent regulation of SK4/IK1-like currents in rat submandibular acinar cells: possible role of cAMP-dependent protein kinase. (2004) American Journal of Physiology (Cell Physiology) 286:C635-C646.
Takahata, T., Hayashi, M. and Ishikawa, T. SK4/IK1-like channels mediate TEA-insensitive, Ca2+-activated K+ currents in bovine parotid acinar cells. (2003) American Journal of Physiology (Cell Physiology) 284:C127-C144.
To explore cortical differentiation factors released by the thalamus in primates. Funding Source: National Natural Science Foundation of China.
A new technique of neural loop microscopic imaging for mapping multi-scale brain atlas. Funding Source: National Natural Science Foundation of China.
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