Volume 14 Issue 3, March 2013

Microglia activation, BDNF release and the subsequent effect on Cl⁻homeostasis in spinal lamina I neurons have been shown to play key parts in the hyperalgesia side effect of chronic morphine.

Protein kinase Mζ (PKMζ) is thought to be essential for the maintenance of long-term potentiation (LTP) and memory, but two new studies show that mice lacking PKMζ have normal memories and can undergo normal LTP, casting doubt on the importance of PKMζ for these processes.

Pharmacological inhibition of Notch signalling partially reverses hearing loss in mice by enabling the generation of new auditory hair cells in the inner ear.

A new study shows that the proper development of the vasculature of the mouse eye depends on the detection of light in the womb by fetal melanopsin.

Astrocytic Ca²⁺signalling in response to neural activity only occurs in astrocytes from developing brains.

The ATP required for the fast axonal transport of vesicles may be generated by vesicle-tethered glycolytic machinery.

Spontaneous, irregular cortical activity in sensory cortex may reflect top-down control of the representation of sensory stimuli.

Spiny projection neurons in the direct and indirect pathways act simultaneously to initiate movement.

Under conditions of reduced food availability, theDrosophila melanogasterbrain responds by switching from a more energy-demanding memory consolidation process involving protein synthesis to a less costly process that does not.

Defects in axonal transport are a feature of various neurodegenerative disorders. In this article, Millecamps and Julien provide an overview of the components of the microtubule-based axonal transport system, before examining how defects in this system might cause or influence neurodegeneration in various diseases.

The distal axon and soma of a neuron may be a considerable distance apart, but they are still required to efficiently communicate with each other. In this Review, Harrington and Ginty examine how long-distance retrograde growth factor signalling is achieved between these compartments and its functions.

Attention can enhance performance in tasks that involve the visual system's spatial resolution. In this Review, Anton-Erxleben and Carrasco propose a framework that seeks to explain this effect and that also has implications for the representation of spatial information.

The classification of cortical neurons, including interneurons, remains a thorny issue in neuroscience. This Analysis article presents and tests a possible taxonomical solution for classifying cortical GABAergic interneurons based on a web-based interactive system that allows experts to classify neurons with pre-determined morphological criteria.

The neural mechanisms underlying the perception of duration have proved difficult to unravel and remain unclear. Here, Wittmann explores why this has been the case and presents recent theoretical developments and empirical findings indicating that 'climbing' neural activity has a central role in time perception.