Hiroyuki Arakawa

I have recently moved from University of the Ryukyus, Japan served as an Associate Professor of Physiology to U-M Pharmacology, as an Assistant Research Scientist, to ensure my enthusiasm for research proceed further. My background are psychology and neuroscience, with specific training and expertise in behavioral mechanisms and circuit-manipulation in rodent models. My research aims to illustrate neural circuits dynamics regulating sociability that sustains amicable social life and deficiency relevant to autism spectrum disorders (ASD). In particular, neuropeptides, oxytocin and vasopressin are my primary targets both of which play a key role in the neural regulation of socioemotional behaviors and also as a mediator for opioid-related neural processes. With this in my mind, I have pursued to uncover 1) how prosocial (i.e., positive social) relationship can sustain development of neural circuits and mental health, 2) how ensemble of neural circuits determines sequence of natural social behaviors and 3) responsible decifiency for behavioral symptoms of ASD. Furthermore, I would examine the neural circuits of these neuropeptides in the regulation of opioid neural processes.