Volume 11 Issue 8, August 2010

Expression of an exogenous rhodopsin can restore visual function after retinal degeneration in mice.

Constitutive 5-HT_2Creceptor signalling is involved in both recovery and spasticity following spinal cord injury.

Directional cells, place cells and grid cells mature at a different rate during development.

Modulation of the balance between excitatory and inhibitory inputs underlies the organization of auditory receptive fields during development

The chemokine CXCL12 regulates remyelination in two animal models of demyelination

Carbohydrate preferences are determined by glucose oxidation levels rather than by the sweetness or the caloric value of a nutrient.

Dependent on the phosphorylation state of CaMKII at T305/T306 long-term potentiation or long-term depression is induced.

Glycogen synthase kinase 3 (GSK3) proteins and their upstream and downstream regulators have key roles in neurodevelopmental processes. Hur and Zhou review the mechanisms that regulate GSK3 activity and discuss how GSK3 controls neurogenesis, neuronal polarization and axon growth.

Polarity is an essential requirement for neuronal function. Matthew Rasband describes the role of the axon initial segment in the development and maintenance of neuronal polarity and discusses how its disruption can lead to disorders of the nervous system.

All retinal neurons are generated from multipotent progenitor cells through a step-wise process that increasingly restricts lineage choices. Swaroop and colleagues discuss our current understanding of the transcription factors and gene-regulatory networks involved in photoreceptor subtype specification and photoreceptor development.

Circadian cycling of biological processes is widely conserved across phylogeny. Gerstner and Yin discuss how regulators of circadian rhythms — including clock genes, melatonin and the suprachiasmatic nucleus — affect synaptic plasticity and memory formation.

The interrelationship between circadian and sleep rhythm abnormalities and neurological disease has long been recognized. Foster and colleagues now provide a conceptual framework regarding common mechanisms of neurological disease and circadian and sleep physiology, and propose new approaches for the treatment of neuropsychiatric and neurodegenerative diseases.

In this Perspective, Kraus and Chandrasekaran show that changes in the nervous system that are induced by music training enhance auditory processing, not only of music but also of speech and language. They argue that music training should be provided in schools to benefit children throughout society.