News & Comment

Bright light exerts antinociceptive effects in mice by activating a visual circuit involving the periaqueductal grey.

The rapid switch from movement planning to execution is mediated by midbrain neurons that transmit information to cortex via the thalamus.

Two studies identify a mechanism linking TDP-43 pathology with genetic variants associated with increased risk of neurodegenerative disorders.

Hyperexcitability of a population of arousal-promoting neurons in the hypothalamus drives sleep instability in aged mice.

A small population of neurons coordinates spontaneous activity and regulates synapse formation in the developing fly brain.

Immune genes implicated in multiple sclerosis pathology are shown to be primed but not expressed in oligodendrocyte precursor cells in both mouse and human.

Neuropeptide Y released in the rat spleen by neurons of the suprarenal and coeliac ganglia can regulate immune-cell activation.

Androgen signalling during development may represent the mechanism underpinning some observed sex-differences in adult human brain size.

A new study identifies a neuronal cluster in the brainstem that coordinates rhythmic crying with breathing in neonatal mice.

A group of thalamic neurons in mice promote arousal and defensive behaviours in response to threat and enable sleep adaptations in the face of long-term predatory stress.

Neuropod cells in the gut epithelium of mice are sensory transducers for sweet stimuli and mediate the preference for sugar over artificial sweeteners.

Spiny mice (Acomys cahirinus) are revealed to recover motor co-ordination following complete spinal cord transection, owing to regrowth of axonal motor pathways across the lesion site.

Reproductive state-dependent social behaviours in female mice are governed by the responsiveness of a hypothalamic neuron subtype to male cues

Temporarily reducing inhibition in CA1 of the mouse hippocampus enables stimulation-induced over-representation of rewarded locations.

Fear is actively maintained in balance in mice by the insular cortex, which gates extinction learning according to an animal’s fear level using interoceptive signals related to fear expression that are sent to the brain via the vagus nerve.

New evidence from a study in mice suggests that neurons in the anterior claustrum contribute to premotor planning.

Selective and transient erasure of LTP reveals the roles of synaptic plasticity at multiple stages of memory consolidation.

Mapping promoter–enhancer interactions reveals that increased diversity of cell types in the vertebrate CNS coincides with the evolutionary expansion of complexity in noncoding regions of the genome

In the brain of the ant species Harpegnathos saltator, the switch from worker ant to gamergate is regulated by the steroid hormones JH3 and 20E, which induce expression of Kr-h1, a transcription factor that regulates caste-specific gene expression via transcriptional repression.

In mice, peripheral immune responses can be encoded by neurons in the insular cortex, and reactivation of these neurons can lead to retrieval of peripheral inflammation.