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The pathogenesis of multiple system atrophy, a rapidly progressing oligodendroglial α-synucleinopathy, is not well understood. In this Review, Stefanova and Wenning discuss how converging findings from genetic and neuropathological studies and experimental models have revealed a complex cascade of mechanisms that underlie the disorder.
Neural manifolds can shed light on how heterogeneous neuronal population activity drives neural computations, but linking these insights to the underlying neuronal connectivity is challenging. Engel and colleagues emphasize the importance of approaches that seek to connect neural dynamics with connectivity, providing key examples of advances towards this goal.
Recent technological advances allow recordings of human brain activity to be made as participants engage in free movement inside and outside the laboratory. Suthana and colleagues describe these innovations, their application to cognitive neuroscience studies and their potential to transform our understanding of brain function in naturalistic settings.
In this Perspective, Floegel et al. examine two perspectives — musculoskeletal plant control and perceptual control — on modelling human motor control. They discuss the implications of adopting one or the other perspective when conducting such modelling and the consequences for our understanding of actions.
Thalamic activity onto a sparse population of premotor neurons in the zebra finch song nucleus initiates syllable onset, enabling the orchestration of song production.
Infant attachment to the mother in rodents and monkeys is shown to rely on regulation of hypothalamic oxytocin release by a serotonergic projection from the raphe nucleus.
Clarification of mechanisms underlying inflammation and neural repair after ischaemic stroke could lead to improved prognosis. In this Review, Shichita et al. discuss the biphasic nature of the post-stroke inflammatory response and the key molecules and cells involved.
The CNS critically relies on an extensive and complex vasculature to function properly. In this Review, Wälchli and colleagues examine the general and CNS-specific mechanisms that underlie angiogenesis in brain development, brain vascular malformations and brain tumours.
New findings indicate a role for SMN protein in assembly of the synaptic SNARE complex at neuromuscular junctions, providing insight into mechanisms of pathology in spinal muscular atrophy.
The centrosome is crucial for the microtubule dynamics that underlie the radial migration of developing rodent neurons but is not required for axon growth.
A new study examines thalamic innervation of cortical layer 2/3 pyramidal neurons and models how this thalamic connectivity affects visual responses in these cells.
The ability to be woken from deep sleep by a sound (such as an alarm) is shown to be mediated by a specialized glutamatergic brainstem–mediodorsal thalamic pathway.
A 1997 paper, described here by Hiromasa Takemura, showed that variations in the size of the visual cortex in humans are correlated with those of other parts of the visual system.
Different defensive responses are characterized by transient behavioural and cardiac components, which are constrained by cardiovascular dynamics occurring across the duration of threat exposure.
Through their widespread connectivity, cholinergic projection neurons in the basal forebrain can modulate diverse cognitive functions. In this Review, Ananth and colleagues provide a comprehensive overview of the development, organization and function of different populations of basal forebrain cholinergic neurons.
Seung-Hee Lee describes findings published in 2000 that gave us insight into the principles by which different types of GABAergic synapses are organized in cortical networks.
The advanced cognitive capacities of humans are linked to the evolution of a number of species-specific cortical features. In this Review, Pierre Vanderhaeghen and Franck Polleux discuss the genomic modifications and changes in neurodevelopmental mechanisms that underpin the human brain’s unique complexity and function.
