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Field

Integrative Life Sciences :
Cellular Network

Research

JAPANESE
Professor MATSUI Ko
Campus Katahira campus
Laboratory Super-Network Brain Physiology
Tel +81-22-717-8208
E-mail matsui＠med.tohoku.ac.jp
Website http://www.ims.med.tohoku.ac.jp/matsui/ http://www.ims.med.tohoku.ac.jp/matsui/member-KoMatsui.html
Career
1992  Entered Science Division II at the University of Tokyo
1996  Graduated Department of Psychology at the University of Tokyo
2001  Obtained PhD (Psychology) at the University of Tokyo (Supervisor; Masao Tachibana)
2001-2006  Postdoctoral research at the Vollum Institute (Portland, OR, USA) (PI; Craig E. Jahr)
2006-2012  Assistant Professor at the National Institute for Physiological Sciences (Okazaki, Aichi, Japan) (PI; Ryuichi Shigemoto)
2013-2017  Associate Professor at the Graduate School of Medicine, Tohoku University.
2017-present  Professor at the Graduate School of Life Sciences, Tohoku University
 
Selected Publications
  1. Rubio ME, Matsui K, Fukazawa Y, Kamasawa N, Harada H, Itakura M, Molnár E, Abe M, Sakimura K, Shigemoto R (2017) The number and distribution of AMPA receptor channels containing fast kinetic GluA3 and GluA4 subunits at auditory nerve synapses depend on the target cells. Brain Structure and Function, doi:10.1007/s00429-017-1408-0.
  2. Nakamura Y, Harada H, Kamasawa N, Matsui K, Rothman JS, Shigemoto R, Silver RA, DiGregorio DA, Takahashi T (2015) Nanoscale distribution of presynaptic Ca2+ channels and its impact on vesicular release during development. Neuron, 85: 145–158.
  3. Masamoto K, Unekawa M, Watanabe T, Toriumi H, Takuwa H, Kawaguchi H, Kanno I, Matsui K, Tanaka KF, Tomita Y, Suzuki N (2015) Unveiling astrocytic control of cerebral blood flow with optogenetics. Scientific Reports, 5: 11455.
  4. Beppu K, Sasaki T, Tanaka KF, Yamanaka A, Fukazawa Y, Shigemoto R, Matsui K* (2014) Optogenetic countering of glial acidosis suppresses glial glutamate release and ischemic brain damage. Neuron, 81: 314–320.
  5. Kanemaru K, Sekiya H, Xu M, Satoh K, Kitajima N, Yoshida K, Okubo Y, Sasaki T, Moritoh S, Hasuwa H, Mimura M, Horikawa K, Matsui K, Nagai T, Iino M, Tanaka KF (2014) In vivo visualization of subtle, transient, and local activity of astrocytes using an ultrasensitive Ca2+ indicator. Cell Reports, 8: 311-318.
  6. Budisantoso T, Harada H, Kamasawa N, Fukazawa Y, Shigemoto R, Matsui K* (2013) Evaluation of glutamate concentration transient in the synaptic cleft of the rat calyx of Held. Journal of Physiology, 591: 219–239.
  7. Sasaki T, Beppu K, Tanaka KF, Fukazawa Y, Shigemoto R, Matsui K* (2012) Application of an optogenetic byway for perturbing neuronal activity via glial photostimulation. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A, 109: 20720–20725.
  8. Tanaka KF*, Matsui K*, Sasaki T, Sano H, Sugio S, Fan K, Hen R, Nakai J, Yanagawa Y, Hasuwa H, Okabe M, Deisseroth K, Ikenaka K, Yamanaka A (2012) Expanding the repertoire of optogenetically targeted cells with an enhanced gene expression system. Cell Reports, 2: 397–406.
  9. Budisantoso T, Matsui K*, Kamasawa N, Fukazawa Y, Shigemoto R (2012) Mechanisms underlying signal filtering at a multi-synapse contact. Journal of Neuroscience, 32: 2357–2376.
  10. Abrahamsson T, Cathala L, Matsui K, Shigemoto R, Digregorio DA (2012) Thin dendrites of cerebellar interneurons confer sublinear synaptic integration and a gradient of short-term plasticity. Neuron, 73: 1159–1172.
  11. Tarusawa E, Matsui K*, Budisantoso T, Molnár E, Watanabe M, Matsui M, Fukazawa Y*, Shigemoto R (2009) Input-specific intrasynaptic arrangements of ionotropic glutamate receptors and their impact on postsynaptic responses. Journal of Neuroscience, 29: 12896–12908.
  12. Jiang Y, Nishizawa Horimoto N, Imura K, Okamoto H, Matsui K, Shigemoto R (2009) Bioimaging with two-photon-induces luminescence from triangular nanoplates and nanoparticle aggregates of gold. Advanced Materials, 21: 2309–2313.
  13. Matsui K*, Jahr CE, Rubio ME (2005) High concentration rapid transients of glutamate mediate neural-glial communication via ectopic release. Journal of Neuroscience, 25: 7538–7547.
  14. Matsui K, Jahr CE (2003) Ectopic release of synaptic vesicles. Neuron, 40: 1173–1183.
  15. Matsui K, Hosoi N, Tachibana M (1998) Excitatory synaptic transmission in the inner retina: paired recordings of bipolar cells and neurons of the ganglion cell layer. Journal of Neuroscience, 18: 4500–4510.
Activities in Academic Societies
The Japan Neuroscience Society, Physiological Society of Japan, Society for Neuroscience, Optogenetics Research Society Japan
Teaching
Graduate School of Life Sciences, Graduate School of Medicine, School of Medicine, Tohoku University(Basic mechanisms of synaptic transmission, Brain physiology, Role of glial cells in brain function)
 

Recent Activities

Glutamate, a neurotransmitter, is released from the glial cells which can affect brain functions such as learning and memory. When the activity of glial cells becomes abnormal, excess glial release of glutamate occurs which causes brain cell death. A new mechanism was discovered where the acidosis of the cytoplasm of the glial cells was the direct trigger of glutamate release from glial cells (Beppu, …, Matsui*, Neuron 2014).
 
 
 

Message to Students

We welcome students with diverse backgrounds. Our technique of recording from individual cells in the brain and optogenetically controlling the activity of cells using optical fibers inserted into the live animals may seem to be extremely difficult techniques. Undergraduate lectures in any school will not prepare you for such experiments. Therefore, everybody entering the graduate school is at the same starting line. Your first successful electrophysiological recording can get you fascinated with this exciting new world of brain physiology. With the electrode attached to a single neuron, you can start a dynamic communication with the brain sample. Any stimulation that you give to the cell quickly gives you back an answer as shown on the oscilloscope. Optical manipulation and optical imaging of cell activity are also the same; an instant feedback is always given. Using these physiological techniques, we aim to understand how the network of networks of neurons and glial cells operate to produce what we inherently perceive as our mind.
 

Research