Articles in 2020

Following long-term potentiation, α5-subunit-containing GABA receptors relocalize to inhibitory synapses to amplify inhibition and suppress runaway potentiation.

Faces represent important objects to primates. In this Review, Janis Hesse and Doris Tsao provide a comprehensive overview of the face patch system in macaques. They also argue that understanding this system may provide more general insights into high-level object representation.

Metabolites regulated by the microbiota of pregnant mice modulates the developing embryonic brain and influences thalamocortical axon formation and subsequent sensorimotor behaviour in adult offspring.

In mice, experience-dependent pauses in movement during exploration are mediated by a circuit in the amygdala.

Viral vectors are important tools for neuroscientists. In this Review, Nectow and Nestler discuss state-of-the-art recombinant viral tools, the key principles governing their selection, development and use, and how they could answer some of the most important questions in neuroscience today.

Mounting evidence suggests that the gut microbiome impacts brain function, and mechanistic connections between specific microbial by-products and the brain have begun to emerge. In this Perspective, Mazmanian and colleagues discuss the assortment of microbial molecules currently thought to mediate these gut–brain connections.

Oligodendrocyte lineage cells have recently been shown to exhibit plasticity in response to sensory experience and learning. In this Review, Xin and Chan outline the evidence for and the possible mechanisms underlying the contribution of oligodendrocyte and myelin plasticity to memory acquisition and maintenance.

A dissociative state is caused by slow rhythmic firing of deep neurons in the retrosplenial cortex in mice or the homologous posteromedial cortex in humans

Recent advances in animal addiction models have emphasized translational challenges. In this Review, Venniro and colleagues introduce a reverse translational approach that may provide an ecologically relevant platform from which to discover new circuits, test new medications and improve translation.

In mice, neuronally expressed opsin 5 acts as a deep brain violet light detector that allows hypothalamic neuron-mediated inhibition of thermogenesis.

Strengthening of the developing retinogeniculate circuit in mouse pups is promoted by a neuronal receptor and locally restricted by the microglial release of the receptor’s ligand.

Considering the influence of stress on research participants during the pandemic and beyond may provide new insights and benefit the broader field of human neuroscience.

Juvenile social isolation in mice reduces a recruitment of medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) to posterior paraventricular thalamus social behaviour circuit and thereby reduces sociability in adulthood.