Volume 22 Issue 11, November 2019

Volume 22 Issue 11

The thalamus is a major hub of projections reaching the cerebral cortex, but until recently its neuronal cell type composition has remained elusive. In this issue, Phillips, Schulmann and colleagues comprehensively profile gene expression across almost all thalamic nuclei in the mouse. The watercolor painting represents the diverse spectrum of neuronal cell types revealed in the thalamus, which is repeated across all major thalamocortical projection systems and maps onto functional and anatomical properties.

See Phillips et al.

Image credit: Julia Kuhl. Cover design: Marina Corral Spence

News & Views

  • News & Views |

    Two new studies demonstrate the importance of awake imaging to investigate microglia–neuron interactions. These studies show that microglial dynamics are influenced by neuronal activity, and they provide evidence that norepinergic signaling plays an important role in this effect.

    • Dilek Mercan
    •  & Michael T. Heneka
  • News & Views |

    Unexpected experiences often lead to strong memories. A new study by Krabbe and Paradiso et al. shows that vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP)-expressing interneurons of the basolateral amygdala control associative learning and memory formation by gating aversive stimuli scaled by their unexpectedness.

    • Panna Hegedüs
    • , Sergio Martínez-Bellver
    •  & Balázs Hangya
  • News & Views |

    Astrocytes are crucial contributors to brain homeostasis. Yet the lack of ad hoc analysis tools has prevented in-depth characterization of astrocyte-derived signals. In a new study, the authors present an image-analysis toolbox that captures the complexity of astrocyte activity and enables our understanding of astrocytic physiology.

    • Jennifer Romanos
    • , Laetitia Thieren
    •  & Mirko Santello

Perspectives

  • Perspective |

    Many studies focus on neural associations yet understanding the brain will ultimately depend on discovering the causal interactions underlying its functionality. Moving from association to causation will thus be essential for advancing neuroscience.

    • Andrew T. Reid
    • , Drew B. Headley
    • , Ravi D. Mill
    • , Ruben Sanchez-Romero
    • , Lucina Q. Uddin
    • , Daniele Marinazzo
    • , Daniel J. Lurie
    • , Pedro A. Valdés-Sosa
    • , Stephen José Hanson
    • , Bharat B. Biswal
    • , Vince Calhoun
    • , Russell A. Poldrack
    •  & Michael W. Cole
  • Perspective |

    A deep network is best understood in terms of components used to design it—objective functions, architecture and learning rules—rather than unit-by-unit computation. Richards et al. argue that this inspires fruitful approaches to systems neuroscience.

    • Blake A. Richards
    • , Timothy P. Lillicrap
    • , Philippe Beaudoin
    • , Yoshua Bengio
    • , Rafal Bogacz
    • , Amelia Christensen
    • , Claudia Clopath
    • , Rui Ponte Costa
    • , Archy de Berker
    • , Surya Ganguli
    • , Colleen J. Gillon
    • , Danijar Hafner
    • , Adam Kepecs
    • , Nikolaus Kriegeskorte
    • , Peter Latham
    • , Grace W. Lindsay
    • , Kenneth D. Miller
    • , Richard Naud
    • , Christopher C. Pack
    • , Panayiota Poirazi
    • , Pieter Roelfsema
    • , João Sacramento
    • , Andrew Saxe
    • , Benjamin Scellier
    • , Anna C. Schapiro
    • , Walter Senn
    • , Greg Wayne
    • , Daniel Yamins
    • , Friedemann Zenke
    • , Joel Zylberberg
    • , Denis Therien
    •  & Konrad P. Kording

Articles

  • Article |

    Liu et al. show that microglial process surveillance is restrained in awake mice, and that reduced neuronal activity due to anesthesia, sensory deprivation or optogenetic inhibition increases microglial dynamics via norepinephrine signaling.

    • Yong U. Liu
    • , Yanlu Ying
    • , Yujiao Li
    • , Ukpong B. Eyo
    • , Tingjun Chen
    • , Jiaying Zheng
    • , Anthony D. Umpierre
    • , Jia Zhu
    • , Dale B. Bosco
    • , Hailong Dong
    •  & Long-Jun Wu
  • Article |

    Stowell, Sipe et al. describe how norepinephrine signaling to microglia during wakefulness influences the dynamic movement of microglial processes, affecting both microglial interactions with neurons and experience-dependent plasticity.

    • Rianne D. Stowell
    • , Grayson O. Sipe
    • , Ryan P. Dawes
    • , Hanna N. Batchelor
    • , Katheryn A. Lordy
    • , Brendan S. Whitelaw
    • , Mark B. Stoessel
    • , Jean M. Bidlack
    • , Edward Brown
    • , Mriganka Sur
    •  & Ania K. Majewska
  • Article |

    The authors report that the ALS-associated gene FUS stimulates transcription of acetylcholine receptor subunit genes in subsynaptic myonuclei. ALS mutations distort this mechanism, inducing muscle-intrinsic toxicity that may contribute to dying-back motor neuronopathy.

    • Gina Picchiarelli
    • , Maria Demestre
    • , Amila Zuko
    • , Marije Been
    • , Julia Higelin
    • , Stéphane Dieterlé
    • , Marc-Antoine Goy
    • , Moushami Mallik
    • , Chantal Sellier
    • , Jelena Scekic-Zahirovic
    • , Li Zhang
    • , Angela Rosenbohm
    • , Céline Sijlmans
    • , Amr Aly
    • , Sina Mersmann
    • , Inmaculada Sanjuan-Ruiz
    • , Annemarie Hübers
    • , Nadia Messaddeq
    • , Marina Wagner
    • , Nick van Bakel
    • , Anne-Laurence Boutillier
    • , Albert Ludolph
    • , Clotilde Lagier-Tourenne
    • , Tobias M. Boeckers
    • , Luc Dupuis
    •  & Erik Storkebaum
  • Article |

    Chow et al. show that high blood levels of insulin in prediabetic conditions are linked to saturated insulin levels in the brain. Chronic insulin exposure leads to insulin resistance, cell cycle reentry and premature aging, corresponding to senescence-like pathological changes in neurons.

    • Hei-Man Chow
    • , Meng Shi
    • , Aifang Cheng
    • , Yuehong Gao
    • , Guimiao Chen
    • , Xuan Song
    • , Raphaella Wai Lam So
    • , Jie Zhang
    •  & Karl Herrup
  • Article |

    The authors found that activity of the same ventral tegmental area dopaminergic axons in basal amygdala increased following learned cues predicting either food rewards or punishments, in a manner consistent with signaling of motivational salience.

    • Andrew Lutas
    • , Hakan Kucukdereli
    • , Osama Alturkistani
    • , Crista Carty
    • , Arthur U. Sugden
    • , Kayla Fernando
    • , Veronica Diaz
    • , Vanessa Flores-Maldonado
    •  & Mark L. Andermann
  • Article |

    Krabbe, Paradiso et al. show that amygdala VIP interneurons are activated by instructive cues for associative learning. These interneurons provide a mandatory disinhibitory signal permitting plasticity in response to unexpected salient events.

    • Sabine Krabbe
    • , Enrica Paradiso
    • , Simon d’Aquin
    • , Yael Bitterman
    • , Julien Courtin
    • , Chun Xu
    • , Keisuke Yonehara
    • , Milica Markovic
    • , Christian Müller
    • , Tobias Eichlisberger
    • , Jan Gründemann
    • , Francesco Ferraguti
    •  & Andreas Lüthi
  • Article |

    Sun and Jin et al. report that a population of neurons in the subiculum form a pathway for visual information to reach the hippocampus and impact place-specific activity. Activation of these neurons promotes the formation of object-location memories.

    • Yanjun Sun
    • , Suoqin Jin
    • , Xiaoxiao Lin
    • , Lujia Chen
    • , Xin Qiao
    • , Li Jiang
    • , Pengcheng Zhou
    • , Kevin G. Johnston
    • , Peyman Golshani
    • , Qing Nie
    • , Todd C. Holmes
    • , Douglas A. Nitz
    •  & Xiangmin Xu
  • Article |

    Control of movements can be understood in terms of the interplay between a controller, a simulator and an estimator. Egger et. al. show that cortical neurons establish the same building blocks to control cognitive states in the absence of movement.

    • Seth W. Egger
    • , Evan D. Remington
    • , Chia-Jung Chang
    •  & Mehrdad Jazayeri
  • Article |

    Using intracranial recordings in humans, the authors found decision conflict-related effects on firing rate in the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC), on spike-phase coupling in the dACC, and on spike-field coherence in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex.

    • Elliot H. Smith
    • , Guillermo Horga
    • , Mark J. Yates
    • , Charles B. Mikell
    • , Garrett P. Banks
    • , Yagna J. Pathak
    • , Catherine A. Schevon
    • , Guy M. McKhann II
    • , Benjamin Y. Hayden
    • , Matthew M. Botvinick
    •  & Sameer A. Sheth

Resources

  • Resource |

    Munji et al. analyzed the transcriptomes of endothelial cells from multiple organs and in neural tissue of neurological disease models. They identified a blood–brain barrier dysfunction module in seizure, multiple sclerosis, stroke and brain trauma.

    • Roeben Nocon Munji
    • , Allison Luen Soung
    • , Geoffrey Aaron Weiner
    • , Fabien Sohet
    • , Bridgette Deanne Semple
    • , Alpa Trivedi
    • , Kayleen Gimlin
    • , Masakazu Kotoda
    • , Masaaki Korai
    • , Sidar Aydin
    • , Austin Batugal
    • , Anne Christelle Cabangcala
    • , Patrick Georg Schupp
    • , Michael Clark Oldham
    • , Tomoki Hashimoto
    • , Linda J. Noble-Haeusslein
    •  & Richard Daneman
  • Resource |

    Dube et al. generated an atlas of human brain circular RNA (circRNA) expression in individuals with and without Alzheimer disease (AD). They demonstrated circRNA expression correlates with AD severity, even before substantial clinical symptom onset.

    • Umber Dube
    • , Jorge L Del-Aguila
    • , Zeran Li
    • , John P Budde
    • , Shan Jiang
    • , Simon Hsu
    • , Laura Ibanez
    • , Maria Victoria Fernandez
    • , Fabiana Farias
    • , Joanne Norton
    • , Jen Gentsch
    • , Fengxian Wang
    • , Ricardo Allegri
    • , Fatima Amtashar
    • , Tammie Benzinger
    • , Sarah Berman
    • , Courtney Bodge
    • , Susan Brandon
    • , William Brooks
    • , Jill Buck
    • , Virginia Buckles
    • , Sochenda Chea
    • , Patricio Chrem
    • , Helena Chui
    • , Jake Cinco
    • , Jack Clifford
    • , Mirelle D’Mello
    • , Tamara Donahue
    • , Jane Douglas
    • , Noelia Edigo
    • , Nilufer Erekin-Taner
    • , Anne Fagan
    • , Marty Farlow
    • , Angela Farrar
    • , Howard Feldman
    • , Gigi Flynn
    • , Nick Fox
    • , Erin Franklin
    • , Hisako Fujii
    • , Cortaiga Gant
    • , Samantha Gardener
    • , Bernardino Ghetti
    • , Alison Goate
    • , Jill Goldman
    • , Brian Gordon
    • , Julia Gray
    • , Jenny Gurney
    • , Jason Hassenstab
    • , Mie Hirohara
    • , David Holtzman
    • , Russ Hornbeck
    • , Siri Houeland DiBari
    • , Takeshi Ikeuchi
    • , Snezana Ikonomovic
    • , Gina Jerome
    • , Mathias Jucker
    • , Kensaku Kasuga
    • , Takeshi Kawarabayashi
    • , William Klunk
    • , Robert Koeppe
    • , Elke Kuder-Buletta
    • , Christoph Laske
    • , Johannes Levin
    • , Daniel Marcus
    • , Ralph Martins
    • , Neal Scott Mason
    • , Denise Maue-Dreyfus
    • , Eric McDade
    • , Lucy Montoya
    • , Hiroshi Mori
    • , Akem Nagamatsu
    • , Katie Neimeyer
    • , James Noble
    • , Joanne Norton
    • , Richard Perrin
    • , Marc Raichle
    • , John Ringman
    • , Jee Hoon Roh
    • , Peter Schofield
    • , Hiroyuki Shimada
    • , Tomoyo Shiroto
    • , Mikio Shoji
    • , Wendy Sigurdson
    • , Hamid Sohrabi
    • , Paige Sparks
    • , Kazushi Suzuki
    • , Laura Swisher
    • , Kevin Taddei
    • , Jen Wang
    • , Peter Wang
    • , Mike Weiner
    • , Mary Wolfsberger
    • , Chengjie Xiong
    • , Xiong Xu
    • , Stephen Salloway
    • , Colin L Masters
    • , Jae-Hong Lee
    • , Neill R Graff-Radford
    • , Jasmeer P Chhatwal
    • , Randall J Bateman
    • , John C Morris
    • , Celeste M Karch
    • , Oscar Harari
    •  & Carlos Cruchaga
  • Resource |

    This manuscript describes the systematic investigation of epigenomic signatures discriminating between regenerative success and failure in dorsal root ganglia sensory neurons following axonal injury. This epigenomic map offers a tool to design novel approaches for neuronal repair.

    • Ilaria Palmisano
    • , Matt C. Danzi
    • , Thomas H. Hutson
    • , Luming Zhou
    • , Eilidh McLachlan
    • , Elisabeth Serger
    • , Kirill Shkura
    • , Prashant K. Srivastava
    • , Arnau Hervera
    • , Nick O’ Neill
    • , Tong Liu
    • , Hassen Dhrif
    • , Zheng Wang
    • , Miroslav Kubat
    • , Stefan Wuchty
    • , Matthias Merkenschlager
    • , Liron Levi
    • , Evan Elliott
    • , John L. Bixby
    • , Vance P. Lemmon
    •  & Simone Di Giovanni
  • Resource |

    This work describes comprehensive transcriptomic sequencing from murine thalamic pathways. By integrating this molecular information with anatomical and functional features, this study reveals a repeated architecture across thalamocortical systems.

    • James W. Phillips
    • , Anton Schulmann
    • , Erina Hara
    • , Johan Winnubst
    • , Chenghao Liu
    • , Vera Valakh
    • , Lihua Wang
    • , Brenda C. Shields
    • , Wyatt Korff
    • , Jayaram Chandrashekar
    • , Andrew L. Lemire
    • , Brett Mensh
    • , Joshua T. Dudman
    • , Sacha B. Nelson
    •  & Adam W. Hantman

Technical Reports

Amendments & Corrections