Drug techniques: siRNA: brain delivery breakthrough | PDF (138 KB)

p570 | doi:10.1038/nrn2205

Neuropeptides: Orexin neurons on acid | PDF (146 KB)

p571 | doi:10.1038/nrn2198

Neurological diseases: Br(e)aking the disease | PDF (110 KB)

p571 | doi:10.1038/nrn2206

Glia: It's a wrap | PDF (167 KB)

p572 | doi:10.1038/nrn2197

Neurodegenerative diseases: Age concerns | PDF (115 KB)

p572 | doi:10.1038/nrn2203

Synaptogenesis: Selective stabilization | PDF (120 KB)

p574 | doi:10.1038/nrn2199

Neurogenesis: New neurons in a whiff | PDF (99 KB)

p575 | doi:10.1038/nrn2202

Development: Chronic NoGo with or without receptor | PDF (148 KB)

p575 | doi:10.1038/nrn2209

Development: Alternative splicing switches on the brain | PDF (99 KB)

p576 | doi:10.1038/nrn2200

Circuit-breakers: optical technologies for probing neural signals and systems

Feng Zhang, Alexander M. Aravanis, Antoine Adamantidis, Luis de Lecea & Karl Deisseroth

p577 | doi:10.1038/nrn2192

Newly emerging techniques will revolutionize our understanding of the mammalian brain. Deisseroth and colleagues detail the development and use of microbial opsins as optogenetic tools for the study of neural circuits and discuss the use of these tools as potential future therapies for neurological disorders.

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Initiation to end point: the multiple roles of fibroblast growth factors in neural development

Ivor Mason

p583 | doi:10.1038/nrn2189

Fibroblast growth factors have emerged as key regulators of almost all aspects of neural development, from induction to axonal pathfinding. Mason provides a comprehensive overview of these diverse roles and identifies the major themes from a wealth of experimental data.

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The sequence of events that underlie quantal transmission at central glutamatergic synapses

John E. Lisman, Sridhar Raghavachari & Richard W. Tsien

p597 | doi:10.1038/nrn2191

Synaptic transmission is temporally and spatially tightly regulated to serve the needs of fast information flow in the nervous system. Lisman and colleagues bridge the synaptic cleft and review the sequence of pre- and postsynaptic events of quantal release.

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Angiogenesis in brain tumours

Rakesh K. Jain, Emmanuelle di Tomaso, Dan G. Duda, Jay S. Loeffler, A. Gregory Sorensen & Tracy T. Batchelor

p610 | doi:10.1038/nrn2175

Tumours rely on blood vessels for survival and growth. Jain and colleagues review the mechanisms by which malignant brain tumours stimulate the formation of new blood vessels, and discuss the latest methods for monitoring and treating brain tumours with anti-VEGF agents.

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Translational principles of deep brain stimulation

Morten L. Kringelbach, Ned Jenkinson, Sarah L.F. Owen & Tipu Z. Aziz

p623 | doi:10.1038/nrn2196

Deep brain stimulation (DBS) was developed to treat movement disorders, but translational research has revealed new targets for this procedure. Aziz and colleagues elucidate the neurophysiological and translational principles of DBS and provide a model for its underlying mechanisms.

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The neural basis of visual body perception

Marius V. Peelen & Paul E. Downing

p636 | doi:10.1038/nrn2195

Peelen and Downing review recent evidence for body-selective neural mechanisms in the visual cortex and discuss how body-selective brain regions might relate to action perception and the 'mirror' system, perception of the self and the 'body schema', and understanding the emotions of others.

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