Education

M.D., Ph.D. in Anatomy, Tsukuba Univeristy, 1988

Current position

Professor in Anatomy Department, Graduate School of Medicine, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Japan

Publications (selected)

1. Kano M, Watanabe M: Cerebellar circuits. In: Comprehensive Developmental Neuroscience: Neural Circuit Development and Function in the Healthy and Diseased Brain, volume 3 (eds, Rubenstein JL, Rakic P), pp.75-93, 2013, Elsevier, Amsterdam.
   
2. Kano M, Watanabe M: Synaptogenesis and synapse elimination. In: Handbook of the Cerebellum and Cerebellar Disorders. (eds, Manto M, Gruol DL, Schmahmann N, Koibuchi N, Rossi F), 2013, pp281-299, Springer.
   
3. Miyazaki, T., Yamasaki, M., Hashimoto, K., Yamazaki, M., Abe, M., Usui, H., Kano, M., Sakimura, K. and Watanabe, M. (2012). Cav2.1 in cerebellar Purkinje cells regulates competitive excitatory synaptic wiring, cell survival, and cerebellar biochemical compartmentalization. J Neurosci 32(4): 1311-1328.
   
4. Kudo, T., Uchigashima, M., Miyazaki, T., Konno, K., Yamasaki, M., Yanagawa, Y., Minami, M. and Watanabe, M. (2012). Three types of neurochemical projection from the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis to the ventral tegmental area in adult mice. J Neurosci 32(50): 18035-18046.
   
5. Iwakura, A., Uchigashima, M., Miyazaki, T., Yamasaki, M. and Watanabe, M. (2012). Lack of molecular-anatomical evidence for GABAergic influence on axon initial segment of cerebellar Purkinje cells by the pinceau formation. J Neurosci 32(27): 9438-9448.
   
6. Watanabe, M. and Kano, M. (2011). Climbing fiber synapse elimination in cerebellar Purkinje cells. Eur J Neurosci 34(10): 1697-1710.
   
7. Miyazaki, T., Yamasaki, M., Hashimoto, K., Yamazaki, M., Abe, M., Usui, H., Kano, M., Sakimura, K. and Watanabe, M. (2012). Cav2.1 in cerebellar Purkinje cells regulates competitive excitatory synaptic wiring, cell survival, and cerebellar biochemical compartmentalization. J Neurosci 32(4): 1311-1328.
   
8. Ichikawa, R., Yamasaki, M., Miyazaki, T., Konno, K., Hashimoto, K., Tatsumi, H., Inoue, Y., Kano, M. and Watanabe, M. (2011). Developmental switching of perisomatic innervation from climbing fibers to basket cell fibers in cerebellar Purkinje cells. J Neurosci 31(47): 16916-16927.
   
9. Uchigashima, M., Yamazaki, M., Yamasaki, M., Tanimura, A., Sakimura, K., Kano, M. and Watanabe, M. (2011). Molecular and morphological configuration for 2-arachidonoylglycerol-mediated retrograde signaling at mossy cell-granule cell synapses in the dentate gyrus. J Neurosci 31(21): 7700-7714.
   
10. Yoshida, T., Uchigashima, M., Yamasaki, M., Katona, I., Yamazaki, M., Sakimura, K., Kano, M., Yoshioka, M. and Watanabe, M. (2011). Unique inhibitory synapse with particularly rich endocannabinoid signaling machinery on pyramidal neurons in basal amygdaloid nucleus. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 108(7): 3059-3064.
    
11. Yamasaki, M., Miyazaki, T., Azechi, H., Abe, M., Natsume, R., Hagiwara, T., Aiba, A., Mishina, M., Sakimura, K. and Watanabe, M. (2011). Glutamate receptor delta2 is essential for input pathway-dependent regulation of synaptic AMPAR contents in cerebellar Purkinje cells. J Neurosci 31(9): 3362-3374.
    
12. Miyazaki, T., Yamasaki, M., Takeuchi, T., Sakimura, K., Mishina, M. and Watanabe, M. (2010). Ablation of glutamate receptor GluRdelta2 in adult Purkinje cells causes multiple innervation of climbing fibers by inducing aberrant invasion to parallel fiber innervation territory. J Neurosci 30(45): 15196-15209.
    
13. Yamasaki, M., Matsui, M. and Watanabe, M. (2010). Preferential localization of muscarinic M1 receptor on dendritic shaft and spine of cortical pyramidal cells and its anatomical evidence for volume transmission. J Neurosci 30(12): 4408-4418.
    
14. Kano, M., Ohno-Shosaku, T., Hashimotodani, Y., Uchigashima, M. and Watanabe, M. (2009). Endocannabinoid-mediated control of synaptic transmission. Physiol Rev 89(1): 309-380.
    
15. Takasaki, C., Okada, R., Mitani, A., Fukaya, M., Yamasaki, M., Fujihara, Y., Shirakawa, T., Tanaka, K. and Watanabe, M. (2008). Glutamate transporters regulate lesion-induced plasticity in the developing somatosensory cortex. J Neurosci 28(19): 4995-5006.
    
16. Uchigashima, M., Narushima, M., Fukaya, M., Katona, I., Kano, M. and Watanabe, M. (2007). Subcellular arrangement of molecules for 2-arachidonoyl-glycerol-mediated retrograde signaling and its physiological contribution to synaptic modulation in the striatum. J Neurosci 27(14): 3663-3676.
    
17. Yoshida, T., Fukaya, M., Uchigashima, M., Miura, E., Kamiya, H., Kano, M. and Watanabe, M. (2006). Localization of diacylglycerol lipase-alpha around postsynaptic spine suggests close proximity between production site of an endocannabinoid, 2-arachidonoyl-glycerol, and presynaptic cannabinoid CB1 receptor. J Neurosci 26(18): 4740-4751.
    
18. Miyazaki, T., Hashimoto, K., Shin, H. S., Kano, M. and Watanabe, M. (2004). P/Q-type Ca²⁺ channel alpha1A regulates synaptic competition on developing cerebellar Purkinje cells. J Neurosci 24(7): 1734-1743.
    
19. Fukaya, M., Kato, A., Lovett, C., Tonegawa, S. and Watanabe, M. (2003). Retention of NMDA receptor NR2 subunits in the lumen of endoplasmic reticulum in targeted NR1 knockout mice. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 100(8): 4855-4860.
    
20. Sakai, K., Shimizu, H., Koike, T., Furuya, S. and Watanabe, M. (2003). Neutral amino acid transporter ASCT1 is preferentially expressed in L-Ser-synthetic/storing glial cells in the mouse brain with transient expression in developing capillaries. J Neurosci 23(2): 550-560.
    
21. Ichikawa, R., Miyazaki, T., Kano, M., Hashikawa, T., Tatsumi, H., Sakimura, K., Mishina, M., Inoue, Y. and Watanabe, M. (2002). Distal extension of climbing fiber territory and multiple innervation caused by aberrant wiring to adjacent spiny branchlets in cerebellar Purkinje cells lacking glutamate receptor delta 2. J Neurosci 22(19): 8487-8503.
    
22. Yamasaki, M., Yamada, K., Furuya, S., Mitoma, J., Hirabayashi, Y. and Watanabe, M. (2001). 3-Phosphoglycerate dehydrogenase, a key enzyme for l-serine biosynthesis, is preferentially expressed in the radial glia/astrocyte lineage and olfactory ensheathing glia in the mouse brain. J Neurosci 21(19): 7691-7704.
    
23. Yamada, K., Fukaya, M., Shibata, T., Kurihara, H., Tanaka, K., Inoue, Y. and Watanabe, M. (2000). Dynamic transformation of Bergmann glial fibers proceeds in correlation with dendritic outgrowth and synapse formation of cerebellar Purkinje cells. J Comp Neurol 418(1): 106-120.
    
24. Yamada, K., Watanabe, M., Shibata, T., Nagashima, M., Tanaka, K. and Inoue, Y. (1998). Glutamate transporter GLT-1 is transiently localized on growing axons of the mouse spinal cord before establishing astrocytic expression. J Neurosci 18(15): 5706-5713.
    
25. Watanabe, M., Fukaya, M., Sakimura, K., Manabe, T., Mishina, M. and Inoue, Y. (1998). Selective scarcity of NMDA receptor channel subunits in the stratum lucidum (mossy fibre-recipient layer) of the mouse hippocampal CA3 subfield. Eur J Neurosci 10(2): 478-487.
    
26. Shibata, T., Yamada, K., Watanabe, M., Ikenaka, K., Wada, K., Tanaka, K. and Inoue, Y. (1997). Glutamate transporter GLAST is expressed in the radial glia-astrocyte lineage of developing mouse spinal cord. J Neurosci 17(23): 9212-9219.
    
27. Kurihara, H., Hashimoto, K., Kano, M., Takayama, C., Sakimura, K., Mishina, M., Inoue, Y. and Watanabe, M. (1997). Impaired parallel fiber-->Purkinje cell synapse stabilization during cerebellar development of mutant mice lacking the glutamate receptor delta2 subunit. J Neurosci 17(24): 9613-9623.
    
28. Watanabe, M., Osada, J., Aratani, Y., Kluckman, K., Reddick, R., Malinow, M. R. and Maeda, N. (1995). Mice deficient in cystathionine beta-synthase: animal models for mild and severe homocyst(e)inemia. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 92(5): 1585-1589.
    
29. Watanabe, M., Inoue, Y., Sakimura, K. and Mishina, M. (1993). Distinct distributions of five N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor channel subunit mRNAs in the forebrain. J Comp Neurol 338(3): 377-390.
    
30. Watanabe, M., Inoue, Y., Sakimura, K. and Mishina, M. (1992). Developmental changes in distribution of NMDA receptor channel subunit mRNAs. Neuroreport 3(12): 1138-1140.