Abstract
Understanding the pathophysiology of neuropsychiatric diseases and neural mechanism of functional recovery after brain/spinal cord injuries is important for development of effective therapeutic strategies against them. For such researches, primate model, which is akin to human regarding the structures of the body and central nervous system, is essential. The author has been using the macaque monkeys to study the neural mechanisms of functional recovery of dexterous hand movements after spinal cord injury and recovery of visually guided saccadic eye movements after lesion of the primary visual cortex and clarified the neural circuits responsible for the functional compensation after the injuries and plastic changes occurring in these circuits, and also the effects of modulatory factors such as “motivation”. Furthermore, we recently developed a new method of pathway- selective and reversible manipulation of particular pathway in the primate central nervous system and succeeded in causing the behavioral effects. Such technique may open up the possibility to develop the “path-way-targeted” therapy against the neuropsychiatric diseases and brain/spinal cord injuries.
