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Using functional and morphological analysis, Holderith and colleagues demonstrate that the release probability and the number of voltage-gated calcium channels are linearly correlated with the size of the active zone in CA3 pyramidal cell recurrent axon terminals. On the cover is a freeze-fracture immunogold electron microscopy image of a CA3 synaptic terminal.928988
Despite years of research, what regulates neurotransmitter release at synapses is still not fully understood. Physiological and ultrastructural approaches now reveal critical structural parameters of the presynaptic active zone correlating with release probability: the size of the active zone and the number of calcium channels.
The diverse population of retinal cell types has now been shown to include one that does a neat trick: an interneuron inverts the sign of the retina's response to blue light, creating the blue-Off output signal to the brain.
How do we feel temperature? A study now finds that a recently discovered anion channel is a temperature sensor that, like previously identified cation channels, mediates the perception of noxious hot temperatures.
Changes in pupil diameter may reflect the dynamic processes in the brain that allow us to detect and rapidly adapt to hidden changes in the world. What's more, unrelated manipulations of pupil size may in turn influence these processes.
In this perspective, the authors review new developments that suggest that many diseases share features with prion infections. They also highlight some of the critical open questions in prion biology, including how prions damage their hosts and how hosts attempt to neutralize invading prions.
The authors review recent research examining how social categories of race and ethnicity are processed, evaluated and incorporated in decision-making. They also speculate about the potential of future work to inform how we recognize and respond to variations in race and its influence on unintended race-based attitudes and decisions.
Using patterned optogenetic stimulation and chronic in vivo imaging of dendritic spines, this study shows that the precise pattern of neural spiking—rather than total number of spikes—is the major determinant of dendritic spine stability in cortical pyramidal neurons.
The authors demonstrate that the short wavelength–Off (S-Off) responses in the mammalian retina are mediated not by a distinct S-Off bipolar cell, but by an inhibitory amacrine cell that resides in the circuit between the S-On bipolar cell and the S-Off ganglion cell.
In this study, the authors show that, in the mammalian retina, an inhibitory amacrine cell exists in the circuit between the short wavelength–On responsive (S-On) bipolar cells and the S-Off retinal ganglion cells to mediate transmission of the S-Off signal.
The authors found that subdural electrical stimulation of visual cortex only produced a visual percept if high-frequency gamma oscillations were evoked in the temporoparietal junction (TPJ). Furthermore, electrical stimulation of the TPJ modified the detectability of visual stimuli. These results link the TPJ to visual perception.
Here the authors show that ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) levels of GABA and glutamate in human volunteers are predictive of both behavioral performance and the dynamics of a neural value comparison signal in a manner as predicted by models of decision-making, thus providing evidence for neural competition in vmPFC supporting value-guided choice.
Temporal regulation of embryonic neurogenesis is controlled by hypostable transcription factors. Here the authors show that the RNase III Drosha and DGCR8/Pasha, key components of the microRNA (miRNA) microprocessor, have important functions in mouse neurogenesis. Their results suggest direct and miRNA-independent destabilization of proneural mRNAs by the microprocessor.
This paper demonstrates, using structural and functional analysis of the GBR2 ectodomain, that this GABAB receptor subunit potentiates ligand binding by selectively stabilizing the agonist-bound conformation of the GBR1 subunit.
During Wallerian degeneration of Drosophila axons, Draper and Crk/Mbc/dCed-12 signaling non-redundantly promote clearance of axonal debris. Draper signaling is required early to activate glial responses to axonal injury, whereas Crk/Mbc/dCed-12 are dispensable for glial activation, but are essential at the phagocytic step for internalization and degradation of axonal debris.
Using functional and morphological analysis, this study demonstrates that in CA3 pyramidal cell recurrent axon terminals, the release probability and the number of voltage-gated calcium channels are linearly correlated with the size of the active zone.
This study uses single-channel current measurements, synaptic vesicle fusion–induced capacitance changes and structural modeling of the calyx of Held terminals to show that voltage-dependent calcium channel density at the active zone is a major determinant for the properties of neurotransmitter release and short-term synaptic plasticity.
Examining ionic fluxes during action potentials in rat neocortical pyramidal neurons, the authors show that the energy efficiency of action potentials depends on the level of subthreshold depolarization and that energy demands are spatially heterogeneous where the cost per membrane area is highest in the axon initial segment and lowest in the dendrites.
This study reports that the Ca2+-activated chloride channel anoctamin 1 (ANO1) is activated by heat and is expressed in mouse dorsal root ganglion neurons. Ano1 deletion leads to a deficit in thermal nociception, suggesting that this channel acts as a new heat sensor in pain pathways.
The TAOK2 locus has been shown to be associated with autism spectrum disorder. In this study, the authors show that downregulation of TAOK2 impairs axonal elongation and the formation of basal, but not apical, dendrites through an interaction with the Sema3A/Neuropilin 1/JNK signaling pathway.
This paper reports that hippocampal theta sequences and their corresponding spatial paths stretch forward or backward as a function of an animal's behavior and that these firing sequences map the environment in segments of variable lengths or 'chunks'.
The ability to make inferences about the current state of a dynamic process requires ongoing assessments of the stability and reliability of data generated by that process. Here the authors report that these assessments were reflected in pupil diameter changes, suggesting that pupil-linked arousal systems can help regulate the influence of incoming data on existing beliefs.
The authors generated a red, pH-sensitive fluorescent protein, pHTomato, which can be used to monitor neuronal activity alongside green reporters. When fused with the vesicular membrane protein synaptophysin, it can be used in parallel with the GFP-based GCaMP3 to image presynaptic transmitter release and Ca2+ transients simultaneously in the same neurons.