Articles in 2011

Westerlund and colleagues show that c-Jun N-terminal protein kinase 1 (JNK1), via phosphorylation of SCG10/Stathmin-2, acts as a negative regulator of the rate of neuronal migration and transition through the multipolar stage during cortical development in rodents.

Larsen et al. find that presynaptic NMDA receptors at neocortical synapses are heteromeric receptors containing the developmentally expressed NR3A subunit. Their data also indicate that NR3A-containing presynaptic NMDARs mediate tonic presynaptic activity, synaptic transmission and spike timing–dependent plasticity.

Although the olfactory receptor neurons converging onto the same glomeruli in the olfactory bulb are known, evidence for an olfactory map at cortical level is lacking. The current study finds that mitral cells that are born later during embryogenesis preferentially project to the olfactory tubercles as the late-born mitral cells tangentially migrate further on the axons of earlier born cells, forming an organization of neuronal projection into the olfactory cortex based on the timing of cell birth.

The authors use a mouse model of rapid-onset dystonia-Parkinsonism to show that an adverse interaction between the cerebellum and basal ganglia can account for the symptoms in this condition. Aberrant cerebellar activity alters basal ganglia function via a di-synaptic thalamic pathway, causing dystonia.

Disruption of the hippocampus influences both spatial reference and working memory. By selectively blocking parvalbumin-positive interneuron signaling, the authors find that this class of neurons contributes to spatial working memory, but not to reference memory.

The immediate early gene product Arc has been broadly implicated in synaptic and experience-dependent plasticity. In this perspective, the authors synthesize disparate views of Arc in molecular signaling and its relevance to neurological disorders.

Lafourcade et al. find that a lifelong insufficiency in dietary n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids leads to a specific loss of long-term synaptic depression mediated by endocannabinoids in the prelimbic prefrontal cortex and accumbens in mice. This was associated with impaired emotional behavior.

Reinforcement signals indicating success or failure are known to alter the probability of selecting between distinct actions. Here the authors examine the structure of learning at a millisecond timescale, suggesting that reinforcement can also guide learning of continuous action trajectories.

Acetylcholine (Ach) and agrin are opposing signals that regulate NMJ development. The authors report that the intermediate filament protein nestin interacts with Cdk5 and is required for Ach-induced p35 association with the muscle membrane. Blocking this signaling inhibits Ach-induced AchR cluster dispersion during NMJ development.

Here the authors describe a set of new optogenetic tools for use in primates that are meant to address the unique constraints of working with this species. They characterize opsin expression, the reliability of optogenetic stimulation and its effect on behavior, and methods for determining localization and expression levels prior to the completion of experiments.

Hunger makes Drosophila larvae move faster to find food. A new study suggests the underlying functional and structural plasticity, showing that hunger increases release of octopamine and branching of motor neurons.

Demonstrating the common mechanism of proteasome-dependent degradation of ion channels, two studies in this issue of Nature Neuroscience show that ubiquitin-dependent protein degradation can modulate neuronal excitability.

Our perception of the visual world is stable despite saccade-caused retinal input shifts. A new behavioral study shows that this stability may be achieved by predictively remapping attention before eye movements begin.

A new study shows that even under normal conditions repetitive spiking in some cortical interneurons can trigger spontaneous spiking that originates from distal axons and lasts for tens of seconds.

We present a special focus on computational and systems neuroscience, highlighting recent advances in combining empirical and theoretical approaches, including work presented at the Cosyne meeting in past years.

A study now reveals that ON and OFF thalamic inputs to visual cortex are partially segregated in space and predict the preferred orientation of neurons of the target cortical column. This finding brings us a step closer to a full understanding of the origin of simple cells and orientation maps in primary visual cortex.

Parietal cortex has been implicated as a locus for decision making, and it has been suggested that decision encoding in this area is based on the movement used to report the decision. Here the authors discuss a complementary view that decisions represent more abstract information not linked to movements per se.

Progress in neural recording techniques has allowed the number of simultaneously recorded neurons to double approximately every 7 years, mimicking Moore's law. Emerging data analysis techniques should consider both the computational costs and the potential for more accurate models associated with this exponential growth of the number of recorded neurons.

Experimental work suggests that synaptic and intrinsic neuronal properties vary considerably across identified neurons in different animals. The authors propose that instead of building a single model that captures the average behavior of a neuron or circuit, one could construct a population of models with different underlying structure and similar behaviors, as a way of investigating compensatory mechanisms that contribute to neuron and network function.

Replay is the sequential reactivation of hippocampal place cells that represent previously experienced behavioral trajectories. Although first studied during sleep, recent work suggests that replay occurs frequently in the awake state and could be a potential substrate for memory consolidation and retrieval.