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Dr. Hiromu Monai, CV
Assistant Professor, Laboratory for Neurophysiology and Biophysics

Main Research Field

I study the neurophysiology and biophysics of the brain. Neurophysiology is the part of biology where people study the architecture of the millions of neurons in the brain. Besides neurons, our brain also contains blood vessels, glial cells,
gliotransmission, neuromodulator, cerebrospinal fluid, ion concentrations, electric fields, extracellular spaces, and some lipids! A lot of research has been investigating how neurons talk to each other through synapses, but all the other components also have to function and communicate with each other. I think in the healthy brain, all the other cells and molecules are engaged in very sophisticated and dynamic communications. This is what I call “meta-communication in the brain“. And I believe these factors enable us to acquire complex cognitive functions and intelligence. I’m trying to reveal its unknown mechanisms.

Selected Publications

  1. H. Monai, X. Wang, K. Yahagi, N. Lou, H. Mestre, Q. Xu, Y. Abe, M. Yasui, Y. Iwai, M. Nedergaard, H. Hirase. Adrenergic receptor antagonism induces neuroprotection and facilitates recovery from acute ischemic stroke, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, May 28, 2019, 116 (22) 11010-11019, DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1817347116
  2. H. Mestre*, LM. Hablitz*, ALB. Xavier*, W. Feng*, W. Zou*, T. Pu*, H. Monai*, G. Murlidharan*, RM. Castellanos Rivera*, MJ. Simon*, MM. Pike*, V. Plá*, T. Du*, BT. Kress*, X. Wang, BA. Plog, AS. Thrane, I. Lundgaard, Y. Abe, M. Yasui, JH. Thomas, M. Xiao, H. Hirase, A. Asokan, JJ. Iliff, M. Nedergaard, Aquaporin-4-dependent glymphatic solute transport in the rodent brain, eLife, 2018;7:e40070, DOI: 10.7554/eLife.40070
    *These authors contributed equally to this work.
  3. Y. Ue*, H. Monai*, K. Higuchi, D. Nishiwaki, T. Tajima, K. Okazaki, H. Hama, H. Hirase, A. Miyawaki, A spherical aberration-free microscopy system for live brain imaging., Biochem Biophys Res Commun, Volume 500, Issue 2, 2 June 2018, Pages 236-241,DOI: 10.1016/j.bbrc.2018.04.049 *These authors contributed equally to this work.
  4. H. Monai, H. Hirase, Astrocytes as a target of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) to treat depression, Neuroscience Research, Volume 126, January 2018, Pages 15-21, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neures.2017.08.012
  5. N. Nakai, M. Nagano, F. Saitow, Y. Watanabe, Y. Kawamura, A. Kawamoto, K. Tamada, H. Mizuma, H. Onoe, Y. Watanabe, H. Monai, H. Hirase, J. Nakatani, H. Inagaki, T. Kawada, T. Miyazaki, M. Watanabe, Y. Sato, S. Okabe, K. Kitamura, M. Kano, K. Hashimoto, H. Suzuki and T. Takumi, Serotonin rebalances cortical tuning and behavior linked to autism symptoms in 15q11-13 CNV mice, 2017 Jun 21, Science Advances, Vol. 3, no. 6, e1603001, DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.1603001
  6. H. Monai, H. Hirase, Astrocytic calcium activation in a mouse model of tDCS – extended discussion, 2016 Sep 30, Neurogenesis, 3:1, e1240055, DOI: 10.1080/23262133.2016.1240055
  7. H. Monai, M. Ohkura, M. Tanaka, Y. Oe, A. Konno, H. Hirai, K. Mikoshiba, S. Itohara, J. Nakai, Y. Iwai, and H. Hirase, Calcium imaging reveals glial involvement in transcranial direct current stimulation-induced plasticity in mouse brain., Nat. Commun. 7:11100 2016 Mar 22. PubMedID: 27000523, DOI: 10.1038/ncomms11100
  8. H. Monai, M. Inoue, H. Miyakawa, and T. Aonishi, Low-frequency dielectric dispersion of brain tissue due to electrically long neurites. Phys Rev E Stat Nonlin Soft Matter Phys. 2012 Dec 26; 86(6-1) 061911. PubMed ID: 23367980, DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevE.86.061911
  9. H. Monai, T. Omori, M. Okada, M. Inoue, H. Miyakawa, and T. Aonishi, An analytic solution of the cable equation predicts frequency preference of a passive shunt-end cylindrical cable in response to extracellular oscillating electric fields. Biophys J. 2010 Feb 17; 98 (4): 524-533. PubMed ID: 20159148, DOI: 10.1016/j.bpj.2009.10.041

Assistant Professor, Laboratory for Neurophysiology and Biophysics