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What is the basis for the feeling that someplace or someone is familiar? Molas et al. have identified brain structures involved in signaling familiarity, a necessary element for the expression of preference for novelty.
Zika virus infection is associated with birth defects, including microcephaly, but also with disorders of peripheral nerves. Oh et al. use rodent and human cell models to explore how the virus affects the peripheral nervous system.
Hexanucleotide repeat expansions in C9orf72 gene locus create double jeopardy, first by leading to DNA–RNA R-loops that spawn double-strand breaks and second by the synthesis of dipeptide repeats that hinder DNA repair. This two-pronged mechanism may explain neurodegeneration in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and frontotemporal dementia.
Hattori et al. review the recent advances in our understanding of the roles of inhibitory neuron subtypes in shaping the activity and plasticity states of neocortical circuits, how neuromodulators control inhibitory neuron subtypes, and the role of inhibitory neuron dysfunction in neurological disorders.
A Cre-dependent capsid selection method, CREATE, was used to produce adeno-associated viral vectors that allow gene delivery to the entire central and peripheral nervous systems, with multicolor labeling of single cells.
A combination of computational modeling, neuroimaging and a causal manipulation of brain activity in humans reveals how the brain represents beliefs about how our choices will affect those of others we interact with.
Effectiveness of EGFR treatment is impaired through an early adaptive response. TNF–JNK–Axl–ERK signaling contributes to this primary resistance to EGFR inhibition and might serve as novel target to improve EGFR inhibition.
Loss of inhibition in a circuit in the primary somatosensory cortex that controls the activity of layer 5 neurons drives pain hypersensitivity. Restoring this inhibition resets the inhibitory–excitatory balance, producing analgesia.
Most thalamic research has focused on sensory transmission. Now three independent groups reveal the thalamus to be critical in behaviors linked to frontal cortex and the maintenance of persistent cortical activity during delays.
Disruption of retinal direction selectivity reveals both peripheral and central computations contributing to direction selectivity in mouse visual cortex. These mechanisms work together to better encode motion directions and speeds.
The checkpoint pathway consisting of programmed death ligand 1 (PD-L1) and its receptor, PD-1, modulates immune function in cancer and infection, but unexpectedly, it also silences pain signals in nerves.
A computational model explains how memories of past rewards guide value-based choices. Incorporating behavioral and functional MRI evidence, the findings indicate that 'sampling' from individual memories of past rewards influences choices.
Keeping a picture in mind requires many brain cells to actively communicate ... or does it? There might be more to working memory than neuronal chatter, and silent processes could be hiding right beneath the surface.
Microglia are highly heterogeneous and plastic. However, the dynamics of their turnover have been difficult to visualize. A new multicolor reporter system reveals a plastic but stable network of microglia during health and disease.
Two groups demonstrate the importance of inputs from the amygdala to the medial prefrontal cortex for signaling aversion across a range of behaviors and motivational drives.
Manipulating the activity of a subpopulation of external globus pallidus neurons with optogenetic deep brain stimulation ameliorates motor deficits in a mouse model of Parkinson's disease.
Technical advances in calcium imaging enable the first tests of classic theories of cerebellar learning. Two independent groups reveal dense representation of surprising modalities in cerebellar granule cells.
A study combines monkey behavioral testing with electrical stimulation of face patches, located with functional MRI and studied electrophysiologically, to probe the behavioral relevance of the face patches' selectivity.
α-Synuclein is present at high levels in all neurons and their synapses. We now learn that this protein helps dilate the fusion pore, which forms transiently during vesicle exocytosis, promoting release of certain neurotransmitters.
