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The rodent brain constantly generates new granule and periglomerular interneurons to replenish the olfactory bulb. New work shows that the two subtypes are derived from distinct progenitor populations, revealing unexpected diversity among adult neural stem cells.
Illusions of spatial vision can occur during rapid eye movements known as saccades. A new report shows that temporal judgments are also distorted around the time of saccades, suggesting that the neural representations of time and space may be linked.
The postsynaptic protein GRIP1 is now shown to work with the receptor tyrosine kinase EphB2 to bind a kinesin microtubule motor protein. This causes dendritic transport of EphB2, triggering a pathway critical for establishment and maintenance of dendritic arbors.
Hormonal changes during the estrous cycle have profound effects on synaptic transmission, from altering the density of synapses to changing receptor composition. A new paper shows that neurons express different subsets of GABAA receptor subunits during different phases of the estrous cycle, and that this alters tonic inhibition, seizure susceptibility and anxiety in female mice.
A study in this issue describes the first multipotent stem cell identified in the postnatal cerebellum. These cells can generate inhibitory interneurons, astrocytes and oligodendrocytes. They may also be responsible for a class of childhood brain tumors.
How do genes act in the brain to influence susceptibility to mental illness? An imaging study suggests that healthy carriers of a gene variant associated with depression risk have decreased brain volume and neural coupling in affective circuitry involved in depression.
Sleep deprivation causes all too familiar behavioral impairments and increased need for sleep. A new Drosophila mutant with alterations in the Shaker potassium channel sleeps less than normal but does not show the usual effects of sleep deprivation.
How do we form arbitrary associations, such as 'stop at red' or 'go at green'? A report in Nature suggests that these associations are first formed in the striatum but that activity changes in the prefrontal cortex are more closely related to improved performance.
Activation of G protein–coupled receptors can inhibit secretion of neurotransmittters and hormones. Two recent reports in Nature Neuroscience show that this inhibition is due to Gβγ binding to SNAP-25, directly blocking the vesicle fusion machinery.
Actin destabilization is an early step in specifying axon identity in young neurons. A new paper proposes a molecular mechanism for this process, but the data can also be explained by making a distinction between axon specification and axon growth.
Song learning in juvenile birds is guided by daytime sensorimotor feedback, but nighttime sleep is also integral to song learning, reports a study in Nature, setting the stage for physiological insights into sleep-dependent learning mechanisms.
Postsynaptic receptor trafficking is associated with long-term synaptic plasticity, but whether this mechanism actually mediates learning is unclear. A new study shows that fear learning drives AMPA receptors into synapses in the lateral amygdala.
In V1, neurons preferring similar orientations are grouped in columns too small to be resolved by conventional fMRI. Two studies circumvent this limitation by using algorithms to recognize patterns of activation across a large area. This new trick allows the authors to distinguish responses to different orientations in human V1 and to study its contribution to conscious perception.
