Articles in 2014

Endostatin acts as a trans-synaptic signal to promote presynaptic homeostasis at the fly neuromuscular junction.

Inhibitory GABAergic synapses on dendritic spines and shafts have a key role in the localized regulation of neuronal Ca²⁺signalling. In this Progress article, Higley explains how the influences of dendritic inhibition on electrical and biochemical activity in neurons shape synaptic plasticity.

Recent developments in genetic techniques and monitoring neuronal activity are allowing the roles of different neurons in various fly behaviours to be probed. In light of this progress, Alexander Borst reviews the neuronal circuits underlying visual course control inDrosophila melanogaster.

Retinal progenitor cells (RPCs) produce all of the retina's cells through an evolutionarily conserved series of divisions and cell fate decisions. In this article, Cepko describes recent studies that have shed light on the intrinsic and extrinsic mechanisms that drive this process and argues that individual terminally dividing RPCs are molecularly specified to produce particular progeny.

The sensitivity, frequency resolution and dynamic range of hearing depend upon the cochlear active process, a mechanical-amplification system within the cochlea. In this Review, Hudspeth summarizes evidence that these features result from the operation of hair cells near a dynamical instability, the Hopf bifurcation.

Mutant huntingtin pathology is shown to propagate between neurons and contribute to neurodegeneration.

The ability of sensory neurons to sense temperature is dependent on thermosensitive ion channels. In this Review, Voets and colleagues examine the ion channels — notably, the transient receptor potential cation channels — that have been implicated in the detection of temperature in mammals.

Austism-linked mutations in neuroligin 3 promote repetitive behaviour in mice by targeting a striatal circuit.

In mice with mechanical hyperalgesia, reactivation of the sensitized pain pathways renders the hyperalgesic state labile and susceptible to being reversed.

Superior colliculus neurons develop the ability to integrate information from different senses postnatally based on experience with cross-modal events. In this Review, Steinet al. discuss how this experience-dependent process ensures that this multisensory circuit and the behaviours it mediates are adapted to the environment in which they will operate.

Retinal bipolar cells provide the link between photoreceptors and retinal ganglion cells, the output neurons of the eye. In this Review, Euler and colleagues explore the features of retinal bipolar cells and examine how they shape the visual signal.