Volume 11 Issue 3, March 2010

Correlated firing in cortical circuits may be weaker than was previously thought.

DAPK1 is a specific cell death signal that is recruited to NMDA receptors and mediates brain damage in stroke.

Neuronal expression of PrP^Cis required for the maintenance of the myelin sheaths around peripheral nerves.

A population of neurons in the somatosensory cortex responds specifically to the direction of a moving tactile stimulus.

High-throughput screens have been developed to assess the effects of drugs on behaviour in zebrafish.

Coadministration of α₂-adrenoceptor antagonists accelerates the effects of antidepressants.

D-serine release from astrocytes induces LTP in hippocampal slices.

A series of recent studies have revealed similarities in the characteristics of non-infectious neurodegenerative diseases and prionopathies. Frost and Diamond consider what these findings may tell us about disease pathogenesis and treatment strategies.

Palmitoylation is the most frequently observed lipid modification of neuronal proteins. Here, the authors review the roles and regulation of this reversible and highly dynamic post-translational modification in neurophysiological and neuropathological contexts.

The derivation of neural stem cellsin vitro offers a promising tool for basic research and biomedicine. In this Review the authors compare the properties of the cells generated in these culture systems with those present in vivoin an attempt to assess their physiological relevance for the study of neural precursors during CNS development and disease.

Both vertebrates and insects use a broad repertoire of receptors to detect olfactory environmental cues. Kaupp reviews our current understanding of olfactory signalling, highlighting shared features and important differences between the systems used by vertebrates and insects.

The biological bases of individual differences in intelligence are largely unknown. Deary and colleagues discuss why, despite its high heritability, the molecular underpinnings of intelligence remain elusive, and show that variations in the structure and efficiency of brain pathways might contribute to intelligence differences.

In this Opinion article, the similarities in molecular composition, organization and function of chemosensory receptive endings and neuron–neuron synapses are considered. Based on these parallels, Shai Shaham suggests that chemosensory structures will provide useful models of the neuronal synapse.