Toshihiro Kitamoto, PhD

Associate Professor of Anesthesia and Neuroscience and Pharmacology

Current Positions

Associate Professor of Anesthesia
Associate Professor of Neuroscience and Pharmacology

Education

BS in Biochemistry, University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
MS in Biochemistry, University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
PhD in Biochemistry, University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
Postdoctoral Fellow, National Institute of Neuroscience, Kodaira, Japan
Research Fellow, Institute of the City of Hope, Duarte, California
Senior Research Fellow in Beckman Research, Institute of the City of Hope, Duarte, California

Graduate Program Affiliations

Research Interests

Our lab is interested in understanding the genetic basis of complex behaviors or brain functions, such as learning and memory, sleep and mood.
General anesthetic effect on neural development and function
Conventional and non-conventional steroid signaling
Gene-gene and gene-environment interactions

Selected Publications

Sato, T., Toyama, R., Kitamoto, T. & Sakai, T. (2024). Confinement stress with movement restriction suppresses male courtship in Drosophila through dopamine-dependent neuroplasticity. bioRxiv. DOI: 10.1101/2024.12.16.628796.
Lansdon, P., Kasuya, J. & Kitamoto, T. (2024). Commensal bacteria exacerbate seizure-like phenotypes in Drosophila voltage-gated sodium channel mutants. Genes Brain Behav 23 (5) e70000. DOI: 10.1111/gbb.70000. PMID: 39231190.
Kasuya, J., Johnson, W. A., Chen, H. & Kitamoto, T. (2023). Dietary supplementation with milk lipids leads to suppression of developmental and behavioral phenotypes of hyperexcitable Drosophila mutants. Neuroscience 520 1-17. DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroscience.2023.03.027. PMID: 37004908.
Inami, S., Sato, T., Kurata, Y., Suzuki, Y., Kitamoto, T. & Sakai, T. (2021). Consolidation and maintenance of long-term memory involves dual functions of the developmental regulator Apterous in clock neurons and mushroom bodies in the Drosophila brain. PLoS Biol 19 (12) e3001459. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pbio.3001459. PMID: 34860826. PMCID: PMC8641882.
White, D., de Sousa Abreu, R. P., Blake, A., Murphy, J., Showell, S., Kitamoto, T. & Lawal, H. O. (2020). Deficits in the vesicular acetylcholine transporter alter lifespan and behavior in adult Drosophilamelanogaster. Neurochem Int 137 104744. DOI: 10.1016/j.neuint.2020.104744. PMID: 32315665. PMCID: PMC7247942.
Chen, H., Kasuya, J., Lansdon, P., Kaas, G., Tang, H., Sodders, M. & Kitamoto, T. (2020). Reduced function of the glutathione S-transferase S1 suppresses behavioral hyperexcitability in Drosophila expressing a mutant voltage-gated sodium channels. G3 10 (4) 1327-1340. DOI: 10.1101/2020.01.21.906156. PMID: 32054635. PMCID: PMC7144092.
Petruccelli, E., Lark, A., Mrkvicka III, J. A. & Kitamoto, T. (2020). Significance of DopEcR, a G-protein coupled dopamine/ecdysteroid receptor, in physiological and behavioral response to stressors. J Neurogenet 34 (1) 55-68. DOI: 10.1080/01677063.2019.1710144. PMID: 31955616. PMCID: PMC7717672.
Inami, S., Sato, S., Kondo, S., Tanimoto, H., Kitamoto, T. & Sakai, T. (2020). Environmental light is required for maintenance of long-term memory in Drosophila. J Neurosci 40 (7) 1427-1439. DOI: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1282-19.2019. PMID: 31932417. PMCID: PMC7044726.
Kasuya, J., Iyengar, A., Chen, H., Lansdon, P., Wu, C. & Kitamoto, T. (2019). Milk-whey diet substantially suppresses seizure-like phenotypes of paraShu, a Drosophila voltage-gated sodium channel mutant. J Neurogenet 33 (3) 164-178. DOI: 10.1080/01677063.2019.1597082. PMID: 31096839. PMCID: PMC6641994.
Hindle, S. J., Munji, R. N., Dolghih, E., Gaskins, G., Orng, S., Ishimoto, H., Soung, A., DeSalvo, M., Kitamoto, T., Keiser, M. J., Jacobson, M. P., Daneman, R. & Bainton, R. J. (2017). Evolutionarily conserved roles for blood-brain barrier xenobiotic transporters in endogenous steroid partitioning and behavior. Cell Rep 21 (5) 1304-1316. DOI: 10.1016/j.celrep.2017.10.026. PMID: 29091768.