Articles in 2017

Volitional motor control involves not only the initiation of desired movements but also the suppression of undesired movements. In this Opinion article, Ebbesen and Brecht argue that motor cortex neurons have a role in both aspects of motor control.

Surface diffusion of AMPA receptors at the postsynpatic membrane of hippocampal synapses is shown to be crucial for the expression of both short-term plasticity and early long-term potentiation.

The type 2 cytokine interleukin-4 directly stimulates and sensitizes sensory neurons to drive chronic itch.

Individuals with autism show differences in both social cognition and basic sensory processing. In this Review, Robertson and Baron-Cohen discuss human and animal studies of sensory processing in autism and present possible explanations of how they relate to changes in neural processing and cognition.

Only primates possess 'cytoarchitectonic area 10' in anterior prefrontal cortex, and its function is unknown. In this Review, Mansouri and colleagues argue that area 10 monitors the relative importance of current and alternative goals.

Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) is emerging as a potential broad-spectrum therapy for addiction. In this Opinion article, Diana and colleagues discuss the neural foundations of TMS and discuss possible mechanisms underlying the beneficial effects observed in people with addictions.

During late-stage development, supernumerary synapses are eliminated in a process known as synaptic pruning. Here, Neniskyte and Gross give an overview of synaptic pruning in various parts of the nervous system and describe how differences in synaptic pruning may be associated with neurodevelopmental disorders.

Two pathways from CA1 to the entorhinal cortex — a direct pathway and an indirect pathway, that projects via the hippocampal subiculum — are shown to play dissociable roles in memory formation and retrieval, respectively.

In mice, the circular RNA Cdr1as regulates microRNA expression in the brain and sensorimotor gating.

Neuroscience is going nanoscopic, but can it still rely on classical electrophysiology? In this Review, Savtchenko, Poo and Rusakov argue that accurate interpretation of physiological observations on the nanoscale must account for electrodiffusion phenomena arising from local perturbations of ionic concentrations.

A study in mice identified neurons in the central amygdala that express the serotonin 2A receptor and positively reinforce the consumption of food.

In mice, a set of projections from the medial prefrontal cortex to the nucleus accumbens suppress reward seeking under risky conditions.

The activity of neurons in the basal ganglia contributes to the weighting of speed versus accuracy, rather than to deliberation, in a motor decision-making task.

By capturing and manipulating the self-organizing capacity of pluripotent stem cells, researchers have established protocols for the production ofin vitrobrain-like 'organoids'. Di Lullo and Kriegstein evaluate approaches to organoid generation and consider their potential as models of brain development and disease.

Neuronal trafficking has to meet the requirements of various intracellular compartments. In this Review, Nirschl, Ghiretti and Holzbaur examine how the transport machinery, including the cytoskeleton and molecular motors, is locally regulated to allow neuronal compartment-specific transport.

Species-dependent regulation of plexin A1 signalling may underlie the elimination and retention of cortico–motor neuronal contacts in developing mice and in developing primates, respectively.