Table of contents
From the editors
p753 | doi:10.1038/nrn2017
Research Highlights
Neurophysiology: Via ferrata — the iron way
p754 | doi:10.1038/nrn2014
Learning and memory: Neurotrypsin down memory lane
p755 | doi:10.1038/nrn2015
In brief
Neurogenetics | Synaptic plasticity | Behavioural neuroscience
p755 | doi:10.1038/nrn2019
Neurodegenerative diseases: Perils of ageing
p756 | doi:10.1038/nrn2010
Development: Glutamate signals growth
p756 | doi:10.1038/nrn2013
In the news
Silent communication
p756 | doi:10.1038/nrn2021
In brief
Neurotransmitters | Neurogenesis | Neurodegenerative diseases
p757 | doi:10.1038/nrn2020
Neurodegenerative diseases: A sticky subject
p758 | doi:10.1038/nrn2011
Development: Channels show the way
p758 | doi:10.1038/nrn2016
Psychiatric disorders: ProTREKtion against depression
p759 | doi:10.1038/nrn2018
Reviews
Non-conducting functions of voltage-gated ion channels
Leonard K. Kaczmarek
p761 | doi:10.1038/nrn1988
Voltage-gated ion channels are traditionally considered to solely mediate ion flux. New evidence is emerging that these channels also have important roles in various biological processes that are independent of ion conduction, including neuronal signalling, cell adhesion and gene transcription.
Article series: Signalling in Development
Morphogen to mitogen: the multiple roles of hedgehog signalling in vertebrate neural development
Marc Fuccillo, Alexandra L. Joyner and Gord Fishell
p772 | doi:10.1038/nrn1990
The role of sonic hedgehog as a morphogen involved in establishing ventral cell identity in the CNS is well known. Fishell and colleagues outline the current understanding of the molecular pathways involved in patterning and describe several recently identified and unrelated roles for hedgehog signalling.
Histone deacetylase inhibitors as therapeutics for polyglutamine disorders
Rachel Butler and Gillian P. Bates
p784 | doi:10.1038/nrn1989
An important pathological feature of polyglutamine repeat diseases involves abnormal interactions between the mutant protein and histone-modifying enzymes, leading to transcriptional dysregulation. Inhibition of these enzymes is therefore a promising therapeutic strategy for Huntington's disease and other polyglutamine repeat disorders.
Cancer pain and its impact on diagnosis, survival and quality of life
Patrick W. Mantyh
p797 | doi:10.1038/nrn1914
Cancer induces pain, which often leads to the diagnosis of disease. Mantyh discusses how understanding the mechanisms involved in cancer pain and chemotherapy-induced sensory neuropathy, also associated with pain, might improve the survival and quality of life of cancer patients.
Perspectives
Essay
Brain plasticity and mental processes: Cajal again
Javier DeFelipe
p811 | doi:10.1038/nrn2005
It is 100 years since Cajal shared, with Golgi, the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine. Despite the recognition Cajal received for his pioneering studies on the functional organization of the CNS, his fundamental observations on plasticity are less well-known.
Opinion
Intermediate phenotypes and genetic mechanisms of psychiatric disorders
Andreas Meyer-Lindenberg and Daniel R. Weinberger
p818 | doi:10.1038/nrn1993
Using schizophrenia as an example, Meyer-Lindenberg and Weinberger review the effectiveness of the intermediate phenotype concept for characterizing the neural systems affected by risk gene variants, with a view to elucidating mechanistic aspects of brain function implicated in psychiatric disease.
Correspondence
Correspondence: What gets filled-in during filling-in?
Frans W. Cornelissen and Tony Vladusich
| doi:10.1038/nrn1869-c1
Author Reply: Activation of the primary visual cortex (V1) related to surface brightness
Hidehiko Komatsu
| doi:10.1038/nrn1869-c2
