Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain
the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in
Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles
and JavaScript.
Immature neurons in many brain regions are electrically coupled through gap junctions, which are lost as chemical synaptic transmission matures. This developmental uncoupling is now shown to require NMDA receptor activation.
The Rho-family GTPases act downstream of axon guidance receptors, controlling proteins that remodel the cytoskeleton. New work now suggests that these GTPases also team up to regulate activation of the semaphorin-3A receptor itself.
Pheromones acting through the vomeronasal system influence sexual behavior and neuroendocrine function. Two new studies show that the main olfactory system also contributes to behavioral and possibly endocrine regulation.
A study in Nature reports that nematodes can learn to associate different chemosensory stimuli with illness and to avoid these stimuli in a choice test. Elevated serotonin in a particular type of neuron was critical for this learning.
How are we able to focus our attention on the task at hand while ignoring myriad distractions? An elegant neuroimaging study in this issue finds that, contrary to a widely held view, the prefrontal cortex implements attentional control by amplifying task-relevant information, rather than by inhibiting distracting stimuli.
Not all axons in a peripheral nerve are myelinated. A recent study shows that the expression of neuregulin-1 on an axon membrane determines whether immature Schwann cells will differentiate into myelinating Schwann cells.
A new paper reports that long-term potentiation in the hippocampus, a model of learning and memory, can induce sharp wave-ripple complexes, which are thought to be critical for the stabilization of memory traces in cortex.
Why are some neurons selectively targeted for death in neurodegenerative diseases? A recent paper combines genetics in the fruit fly and mouse to uncover mechanisms underlying the vulnerability of Purkinje cells in spinocerebellar ataxia-1.
Individuals with neglect fail to process stimuli on the left. A new paper uses functional imaging to show that a restricted lesion, usually caused by a stroke, may influence the network of areas associated with attention shifts.
Cerebellin 1 is abundant in the cerebellum, but its function remains a mystery. Hirai et al. now show that this gene is required to maintain parallel fiber-Purkinje cell synapses, via the orphan glutamate receptor subunit Grid2. These findings provide further evidence that there is a molecular pathway devoted to maintenance of synapses.