News & Comment

Using data from the Human Connectome Project and a semi-automated neuroanatomical approach, a study has generated a new multi-modal parcellation of the human cerebral cortex.

Patterns of coordinated activity in the direct, striatonigral pathway and the indirect, striatopallidal pathway regulate action performance.

GABA_Breceptors drive presynaptic excitation in habenula cholinergic neurons to regulate the extinction of fear memories in mice.

Interferon-γ acts on inhibitory neurons to regulate social behaviour in mice.

In stellate cell axons, axon potential width is determined in a synapse-specific manner by the compartmentalized clustering of Kv3 channels.

AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK), which is expressed in the hypothalamus and activated by fasting, is shown to increase the phosphorylation of p21-activated kinase 2 (PAK2), and induce spinogenesis and an increase in excitatory neurotransmission in hypothalamic AgRP neurons.

In mice, maternal obesity induces differences in the gut microbiota of the offspring that can affect the development of social behaviour.

Developmental dysfunction in peripheral somatosensory neurons causes altered responses to tactile stimuli and other behavioural deficits in mouse models of autism spectrum disorder.

A disinhibitory circuit involving the central nucleus of the amygdala, inhibitory and excitatory neurons in the ventrolateral periaqueductal grey and premotor neurons in the medulla controls freezing behaviour in response to threat.

Although both cocaine and morphine administration induce silent synapses in dopaminergic medium spiny neurons and produce similar behavioural changes, they do so through different mechanisms and by affecting different neuronal sub-populations.

There is greater 'overlap' between the sets of CA1 neurons encoding temporally close memories than of neurons encoding memories temporally spaced apart; such overlap may enable linking of temporally close memories.

In experimental autoimmune encephalitis (a mouse model of multiple sclerosis), type I interferons stimulate the production of aryl hydrocarbon receptor, which is activated by diet- and microbe-derived molecules and limits CNS inflammation.

Slow gamma oscillations during sharp-wave ripples in hippocampus are reduced in mice expressing human APOE4 and this is associated with age-related deficits in learning and memory.

Septal cholinergic neurons inhibit hippocampal granule cells through the activation of hilar astrocytes.

A miniaturized spinning bioreactor is used to generate cerebral organoids that mimic key aspects of human cortical development and that can be used to investigate the effects of Zika virus infection on neural development.

During periods of energy stress, glycolytic enzymes become localized near synaptic release sites and are crucial for maintaining energy levels, the synaptic vesicle cycle and behaviour inCaenorhabditis elegans.

Components of the complement cascade induce microglial engulfment of synapses to mediate synapse loss in mouse models of Alzheimer disease.

A new study shows that astrocytic scars facilitate the regrowth of axons following spinal cord injury in mice.

Homeostatic mechanisms that maintain the firing rate of neurons in the visual cortex of rats within a stable range occur primarily during active wake and return the firing rates of individual cells to cell-specific set points.

Fusion of ferritin with a transient receptor potential V1 (TRPV1) channel produces an ion channel that can be selectively targetted to specific neuronal populations and opened by application of a magnetic field.