News & Comment

Long-term potentiation does not require the GluA1 C-tail but instead relies on the availability of an extrasynaptic pool of glutamate receptors.

Cytoplasmic polyadenylation element binding protein 1, which promotes mRNA translation, is an important regulator of neuronal mitochondrial ATP generation.

p40-specific antibodies ameliorate pathology in a mouse model of Alzheimer's disease.

microRNA priming enables asymmetric gene expression patterns in ASE gustatory neurons inCaenorhabditis elegans.

Childhood trauma can predispose people with certain genotypes to disorders such as post-traumatic stress disorder in adulthood. Now, Klengelet al. show that a particular polymorphism in a gene involved in glucocorticoid regulation can interact with childhood trauma, leading to lasting epigenetic changes in the stress response system.

The role of GABAergic projections from the ventral tegmental area to the nucleus accumbens (NAc) in associative learning is poorly understood. Brownet al. now show that these neurons terminate on a class of interneurons only sparsely represented in the NAc and enhance associative learning by halting their tonic firing.

A new study suggests that synchronization in neuronal assemblies in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex supports rule selection.

This study shows that stress-induced glucocorticoid signalling acts rapidly through various signalling pathways to promote memory consolidation.

An optogenetic study reveals a medial prefrontal cortex–dorsal raphe nucleus pathway that specifically controls action selection in a challenging environment.

Alterations in the light–dark cycle can cause depression and learning deficits without disrupting circadian rhythms or sleep. LeGateset al. show that light exposure detected by intrinsically photosensitive retinal ganglion cells directly influences mood.

The neurovascular mechanisms that underlie functional MRI are still unclear. Now, Goenseet al. show that positive and negative responses arise from different, layer-specific processes.

A single-neuron recording study shows that grid cells exist in primates.

Two new studies reveal the existence of an oxytocin–vasopressin-related signalling system inCaenorhabditis elegansthat modulates certain worm behaviours.

In the human brain, parts of the fusiform gyrus respond selectively to images of faces. Parviziet al. show that electrical perturbation of these areas causes the perception of faces to become distorted.

Acute activity-induced cleavage of neuroligin 1 acts as a local homeostatic mechanism to regulate structural and functional synaptic plasticity at individual synapses.

Octopamine-dependent reward-related signalling in fruitflies requires interactions with dopamine neurons.

Distinct circuits in the ventral tegmental area regulate reward and aversion in mice.

Dopamine release in the hippocampus has been shown to be essential for memory consolidation in rodents. Similarly, Chowdhuryet al. now demonstrate that, in humans, the persistence of episodic memory is enhanced following pharmacological increase in hippocampal dopamine.

Interleukin-1β induces anxiety and affects striatal neurotransmission through an interaction with the endocannabinoid system

Dopaminergic midbrain neurons that project to the striatum can also inhibit striatal output by releasing GABA, which is packaged into vesicles by the vesicular monoamine transmitter VMAT2.