Research Highlights in 2017

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.

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.

Hypothalamic neural stem cells may be important regulators of the speed at which ageing proceeds in mice.

The likelihood of winning a bout of competitive behaviour is increased by past wins, and the neural circuitry underlying this crucial determinant of social rank in a group of mice is identified as a projection from the mediodorsal thalamus to the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex.

This study provides evidence for a role for the thalamus in the synchronization of brain rhythms that drive memory consolidation during sleep.

Two major components of depression-like behaviour in mice — social avoidance and helplessness — are mediated by distinct circuits that include parvalbumin-expressing neurons in the ventral pallidum.

In mice, hypothalamic agouti-related peptide-expressing neurons modulate food-cue-associated insular cortex activity to influence behaviour.

The development of chronic neuropathic pain is associated with cortical hyperexcitability and a marked decrease in inhibition, particularly from cortical somatostatin-expressing interneurons.

Enterochromaffin cells in the gut epithelium act as chemosensors and can modulate neural function in response to intestinal signals.

In mice, postnatal stress leads to long-lasting changes in transcription in the ventral tegmental area, sensitizing the brain to stress later in life.

Calcitonin gene-related peptide-expressing neurons in the external parabrachial nucleus can drive cancer-induced anorexia in mice.

Fragments of the protein α-synuclein, which accumulates in substantia nigra neurons in Parkinson disease, are expressed on the surface of these substantia nigra neurons and induce a form of autoimmunity that could account for the degeneration of these cells in the disease.

Water in the external environment is detected by acid-sensing taste receptor cells via a carbonic anhydrase 4-mediated pH change.

Disease progression in a mouse model of Alzheimer disease is associated with the appearance of a population of disease-associated microglia that can phagocytose amyloid-β.

Neurons in the 'face patch' system in macaques code features of realistic faces along various continuous axes.

The transition from an odour being novel to being familiar inDrosophila Melanogasterinvolves dopaminergic modulation of the kenyon cell–α′3 mushroom body output neuron synapse in the fly mushroom body.

Wakefulness influences synaptic function in the hippocampus through the modulation of NMDA receptor co-agonist availability by astrocytes.

Three studies demonstrate that thalamocortical connections are necessary to maintain cortical delay activity in mice.

A study shows that systemic adminstration of plasma from human umbilical cord counteracts ageing-induced impairment of hippocampal function in mice and identifies a key protein in plasma that confers such effects.

Different interneuron populations modulate delay activity representing action plans in the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex.