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This manuscript describes a new cerebral spinal fluid exit route via hundreds of skull channels, with the cranial bone marrow as a destination. In meningitis, bacteria hijack this path and alert hematopoietic stem cells residing in the skull marrow.
Recurrent absence seizures aberrantly increase activity-regulated myelination within the seizure network; this maladaptive myelination, in turn, increases network hypersynchrony and seizure burden over time.
Using voltage imaging, Armbruster et al. show that neuronal activity induces large, rapid and synapse-specific astrocyte depolarizations that enhance synaptic glutamate signaling, representing a novel form of neuron–astrocyte communication.
The authors identify adult neurogenesis in individuals with epilepsy that declines with disease duration and epileptiform activity. Additionally, astrogenesis persists and immature astrocyte activity is inversely associated with neuronal hyperactivity.
Human brain structure changes throughout the lifespan. Brouwer et al. identified genetic variants that affect rates of brain growth and atrophy. The genes are linked to early brain development and neurodegeneration and suggest involvement of metabolic processes.
Duy and Weise et al. combined human functional integrative genomics with mouse experimental biology to reveal a neuroprogenitor-based genetic subtype of human hydrocephalus with defective neurogenesis and altered brain–fluid biomechanics.
By using exome sequencing and extremes of phenotype, McAllister et al. identify rare coding variants with clinical effect in Huntington’s disease. They show that FAN1 nuclease activity slows CAG expansion and is associated with later onset of HD.
Eitan et al. discovered genetic variants in the 3′UTR for the gene encoding IL-18 receptor that protect against ALS. The variant 3′UTR destabilizes the mRNA and dampens microglia NF-κB signaling and neurotoxicity, thus emphasizing the value of noncoding genetic association studies.
Girdhar et al. constructed chromosomal domains from prefrontal histone acetylation and methylation maps and discovered, in a large cohort of schizophrenia and bipolar brains, converging alignment by genetic risk, neuronal function and three-dimensional genomics.
Using single-cell RNA sequencing and spatial transcriptomics, Wang et al. recreate a map of glomerular locations in the mouse olfactory bulb. This work describes a spatial organization that may be used by the brain to assist in odor decoding.
Marsh et al. demonstrate that enzymatic dissociation induces an aberrant ex vivo gene expression signature, most prominently in microglia, which when not addressed can substantially confound downstream analyses. They also identify a similar signature in postmortem human brain in snRNA-seq.
Continuous experience is segmented into discrete mnemonic episodes. The authors identify neurons in the human brain whose responses to cognitive boundaries predict memory encoding success and mark timepoints that are reinstated during retrieval.
By applying operant conditioning, behavioral manipulation, in vivo electrophysiology, computational modeling, and closed-loop optogenetics, the authors reveal a mechanism for action timing in mice mediated by the secondary auditory cortex.
Deep language models have revolutionized natural language processing. The paper discovers three computational principles shared between deep language models and the human brain, which can transform our understanding of the neural basis of language.
The authors use virtual reality tasks and a latent state modeling approach to demonstrate that the opposing control of behavior by striatal pathways is dependent on both task demands and changes in internal state.
Due to a microbiota-dependent increase in intestinal permeability with age, the gut metabolite N6-carboxymethyllysine accumulates in the microglia of mouse and human brains. As a result, microglia display increased oxidative stress and mitochondrial dysfunction.
Benzodiazepines, used to treat anxiety and sleep disorders, may cause cognitive impairment. Shi et al. demonstrate that this is caused by interaction with the mitochondrial protein TSPO, which drives microglia to excessively remove synapses.
Ratz et al. present an easy-to-use method to barcode progenitor cells, enabling profiling of cell phenotypes and clonal relations using single-cell and spatial transcriptomics, providing an integrated approach for understanding brain architecture.
The authors implement model-based analyses to uncover strategies used by mice and humans during sensory decision-making. Contrary to common wisdom, mice do not lapse and, instead, switch between sustained engaged and disengaged states.
By profiling multiple epigenetic layers and enhancer activity in vivo, the authors show a widespread remodeling of the regulatory landscape during mouse cortical development and identify Neurog2 as a key transcription factor driving this process.