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In this Journal Club, Nathan Anthony Smith discusses a 2008 paper that documented a link between the noradrenergic modulatory network in the locus coeruleus and cortical astrocytes in vivo.
The prospects for applying dynamical systems theory in neuroscience are changing dramatically. In this Perspective, Durstewitz et al. discuss dynamical system reconstruction using recurrent neural networks to directly infer a formal surrogate from an experimentally probed system and consider its potential for revolutionizing neuroscience.
Song and speech may have distinct roles in human communication. Scott and colleagues describe the mechanisms underlying the production and perception of song and speech, evaluate the evidence for distinct song-processing mechanisms in the human brain, and consider the implications of such specialization.
Synaptic or neuronal activity can trigger transcriptional changes in the nucleus that are important for learning and memory. Tsien, Ma and co-workers here provide a comprehensive review of the complex signalling pathways involved in this excitation–transcription coupling.
A study reports that in the mouse hippocampus, the induction of long-term potentiation is dependent on the structural functions of CaMKII and not its enzymatic activity.
A juvenile hormone-degrading enzyme localized in the insect equivalent of the blood–brain barrier governs which social role, forager or soldier, worker carpenter ants fulfil.
During retinal development in the mouse, angiogenesis was unexpectedly found to depend on temporally restricted dopamine production by retinal ganglion cells, rather than by canonical retinal dopamine neurons.
Increasing levels of glial-derived neurotrophic factor using a gene-therapy approach in a macaque model of alcohol use disorder resulted in a lower tendency to relapse into alcohol consumption after a period of abstinence.
Research has often considered defensive behaviour as entirely mediated by the brain processing threat-related information. In this Review, Tseng et al. elucidate the interconnected network between the brain and body that facilitates defensive responses to threats varying in imminence.