In this Review, Villeda and colleagues describe blood-to-brain communication from a systems physiology perspective, with an emphasis on blood-derived signals as potent drivers of both age-related brain dysfunction and brain rejuvenation.

The authors show that action value modulates motivation to perform a decision-making task more strongly in females than in males. Anterior cingulate cortex neurons that project to the striatum contribute to this sex difference.

Pathological α-synuclein (α-Syn) spreading is critical for the progression of many neurodegenerative diseases. The authors demonstrate that soluble α-Syn post-translational modifications (PTMs) dramatically modulate pathological α-synuclein spreading.

This study shows that pyramidal tract (PT) and intratelencephalic (IT) projection neurons process information via distinct parallel subnetworks across cortex, each preferentially associated with either motor events or sensorimotor transformation.

The authors map thalamic synapses onto layer 2/3 mouse visual cortex neurons, showing they are sparse, small and heterogeneously distributed. Modeling these data suggests that a few neurons could together reliably decode thalamic visual input.

Understanding the spatiotemporal dynamics underlying pathology can shed light on its mechanisms. Here the authors introduce STARmap PLUS, a method that combines high-resolution spatial transcriptomics with protein detection.

Zhou et al. show that the generation and maintenance of chronic neuropathic pain after peripheral nerve injury is crucially dependent on the activation of a parabrachial nucleus–nucleus basalis-S1 pathway during non-REM sleep.

Pathological α-synuclein (α-Syn) spreading is critical for the progression of many neurodegenerative diseases. The authors demonstrate that soluble α-Syn post-translational modifications (PTMs) dramatically modulate pathological α-synuclein spreading.

This study shows that pyramidal tract (PT) and intratelencephalic (IT) projection neurons process information via distinct parallel subnetworks across cortex, each preferentially associated with either motor events or sensorimotor transformation.

Distinct cortical pyramidal neuron types, defined by developmental lineage, make unique contributions to behavioral decisions. We highlight the importance of interactions among diverse cortical and subcortical areas for successful decision outcomes.