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Unpredicted aversive experiences activate DA neurons in dorsal tegmentum; these neurons are important for fear learning. This prediction-error circuit module linking amygdala and dorsal tegmentum enables a solution to an associative learning problem.
The authors identify a CA3 new pyramidal cell type with unique morphofunctional characteristics and distinct synaptic inputs and describe how these cells contribute to sharp-wave synchronization events, which are vital to hippocampal memory function.
Ascl1 and Sox2 convert human brain pericytes into the two major neuronal subclasses of GABA- and glutamatergic neurons. Unexpectedly, despite the lack of cell division, this conversion requires passage through a neural stem cell-like state.
Beas et al. show that stress exposure drives disinhibition of PVT projection neurons. This process involves an LC-mediated rise in extracellular DA in the midline thalamus, requires D2 receptors on PVT neurons, and increases stress sensitivity.
Circuit assembly relies on several developmental processes that are often considered independently. Lim and colleagues now reveal that cell migration and axon targeting may be mechanistically linked for Martinotti cells during cortical development.
This study shows that tonic firing of centromedial thalamic neurons triggers rapid arousal, whereas burst firing triggers brain-wide propagating cortical slow waves and promotes sleep recovery, indicative of a midline thalamus sleep–wake hub.
Middleton et al. demonstrate that heterozygous deletion of the frequently mutated Scn2a gene leads to reduced performance in spatial memory tasks in mice, resulting from incomplete sequence reactivation during hippocampal sharp wave ripples.
The authors constructed and validated a molecular network of the aging human cortex from RNA sequencing data from 478 individuals and identified genes that affect cognitive decline or neuropathology in Alzheimer’s disease.
Social rank determines access to feeding and breeding opportunities. Stagkourakis et al. identify an intrinsically amplifying hypothalamic circuit that can generate intermale attack and aggression reward to influence hierarchical status among males.
Khan et al. simultaneously measured activity from excitatory cells and three classes of inhibitory interneurons in visual cortex and show that learning differentially shapes the stimulus selectivity and interactions of multiple cell classes.
The authors revise the classical view that homeostasis of neuronal activity is achieved by negative firing rate feedback: during sensory deprivation, homeostasis occurs via the sliding threshold, which acts via firing patterns rather than rates.
Humans and other mammals are prodigious learners, partly because they also ‘learn how to learn’. Wang and colleagues present a new theory showing how learning to learn may arise from interactions between prefrontal cortex and the dopamine system.
Chronic morphine use can lead to tolerance and AC superactivation. This paper identifies a molecular mechanism by which V1bR signaling promotes this process, providing a potential approach to enhance morphine analgesia without increasing tolerance.
Hruska et al. suggest an architectural basis for NMDAR-dependent spine plasticity mediated by addition of unitary pre- and postsynaptic nanomodules that function as building blocks of synaptic organization and enable structural plasticity.
Albergaria et al. demonstrate that ongoing locomotor activity modulates cerebellum-dependent associative learning. Optogenetic circuit dissection reveals a site of locomotor modulation within the mossy fiber pathway in the cerebellum.
Herzfeld et al. examine how the cerebellum learns to correct movements. They find a timing code that links a Purkinje cell’s preference for error to its downstream projection on motor effectors that produce force to correct for that error.
The authors demonstrate that the thalamic output during absence seizures is controlled and synchronized by a combination of excitation from the cortex and fast feedforward inhibition from reticular thalamus, with little involvement of thalamocortical neuron intrinsic mechanisms.
The authors measured the organization of cortical feedback inputs in mouse primary visual cortex. They found that the locations in visual cortex targeted by feedback axons relate to their tuning properties according to a simple geometrical rule.
Specific retinal connectivity depends on laminar restriction of neuronal processes. The authors show that a single transcription factor specifies a common laminar identity in dendrites of four retinal cell types, albeit via cell-type-specific means.
The authors show that maternal inflammation during pregnancy, indexed by IL-6, can be estimated from the newborn brain connectome and predicts future working memory performance in offspring at two years of age.