Reviews & Analysis

To enable the complex neural circuitry found in vertebrates, many axons undergo extensive branching. Here, Kalil and Dent review the roles of extracellular cues, intracellular signalling pathways, cytoskeletal dynamics and neuronal activity in axon branching and terminal arbor formation in the vertebrate CNS.

Itch — the sensation that induces the desire to scratch — results from activity in a subset of nociceptors, all of which also respond to painful stimuli. LaMotte and colleagues describe the studies that have begun to pinpoint the molecular transducers and neural pathways that transmit itch and the coding mechanisms that distinguish it from pain.

After nerve injury, signals from the lesion site must reach the nucleus in order to initiate the transcriptional responses required for regeneration. In this Review, Rishal and Fainzilber describe recent developments in our understanding of the molecular basis of this retrograde injury signalling system.

The combined actions of immune cells, vascular cells and neurons mediate a 'neuroinflammatory' response to pathogens, trauma and degeneration in the CNS. Here, Xanthos and Sandkühler show that similar responses can be evoked by neural activity and describe the physiological and pathological roles of this 'neurogenic neuroinflammation'.

During development, individual neural progenitors give rise to a series of distinct types of neural progeny that are produced in a specific temporal order. Kohwi and Doe discuss how temporal neural patterning is dictated by extrinsic and intrinsic cues known as temporal-identity factors, as well as by changes in progenitor competence in response to these factors.

Newly generated glutamatergic synapses lack functional AMPA receptor-mediated transmission. Depending on the type of activity that these newborn AMPA-silent synapses are exposed to, they are eventually either eliminated or stabilized. Hanseet al. review recent studies on the abnormal generation of AMPA-silent synapses and on premature or delayed unsilencing that highlight their role in brain pathology.

Increasing evidence of the high incidence of mild cognitive impairment and psychomotor slowing in patients with chronic liver disease has highlighted the need to treat the neurological alterations of these patients. In this article, Felipo reviews the latest studies aimed at understanding how liver failure affects brain function and potential ways to ameliorate these effects.

The classification of psychiatric disorders in the DSM has been influential in neuroscience research but has also been subject to criticism. In this Viewpoint, six leaders in the field discuss whether the latest version, DSM-5, as well as the dimensional approach provided by the RDoC, will move psychiatry research forward.

Local field potentials (LFPs) provide a wealth of information about synaptic processing in cortical populations but are difficult to interpret. Einevoll and colleagues consider the neural origin of cortical LFPs and discuss LFP modelling and analysis methods that can improve the interpretation of LFP data.

Understanding how each of the many diverse subtypes of neurons that make up the cortex are specified during development presents a continuing challenge for developmental neurobiologists. Macklis and colleagues describe recent advances in our understanding of the specification of cortical projection neuron subtype and area identity.

Children with conduct disorder show persistent aggressive or antisocial behaviour and, in some cases, psychopathic traits. In this Review, Blair describes the neural and cognitive mechanisms — and their interaction with environmental factors — that underlie psychopathic behaviour.

The idea that learned associations are encoded within neuronal ensembles has so far mainly been based on correlational data. This Progress article describes recently developed approaches that can selectively target and study activated neuronal ensembles in models of addiction and relapse and in conditioned fear.

In order to make sense of the multitude of acoustic stimuli that surround us in our daily lives, the auditory system needs to be able to assign different sounds to specific sources within the 'auditory scene'. Bizley and Cohen describe how auditory information processing in the cortex categorizes and groups different sounds into 'auditory objects'.

Thefruitless (fru) gene is a crucial regulator of male courtship behaviour. In this Review, Yamamoto and Koganezawa discuss and integrate findings from molecular, cellular and behavioural studies of fruto provide an understanding of how a single gene can organize such an elaborate behaviour.

In this Review, Pouladi and colleagues critically examine the strengths and limitations of the currently available animal models of Huntington's disease. By doing so, they aim to facilitate animal model selection in future studies of this progressive neurodegenerative disorder.

Recent studies have shown that the protein p11 (also known as S100A10) has an important role in depression-like behaviour and antidepressant actions. Greengard and colleagues discuss the molecular and cellular mechanisms that may underlie this role.

Neural insults in conditions such as multiple sclerosis induce changes in the brain's extracellular matrix (ECM) that can inhibit myelin repair. In this Opinion article, Yong and colleagues examine such changes and how the ECM could be targeted to promote remyelination in disease.

Nature Reviews Neuroscienceasks five prominent neuroscientists about the goals of several ambitious collaborative projects that have attracted large amounts of funding and media attention in the past year.

Recent evidence suggests that mood disorders are associated with altered reward function. Russo and Nestler review studies that have shown alterations in the brain reward circuitry in patients with, and animal models of, depression, and discuss the cellular and molecular underpinnings of these alterations.

Activity-dependent changes in neuronal gene expression require a means of synapse-to-nucleus signalling, and changes in nuclear calcium concentration provide a major route for such communication. Bading discusses how nuclear calcium signals are induced by synaptic activity and describes their role as regulators of gene expression in neuroadaptations.