Reviews & Analysis

The impact of RNA modifications, such as RNA methylation, on gene expression and cellular function has been the subject of recent intense investigations. Here Dominissini and colleagues provide an overview of the mechanisms of such epitranscriptomic regulation and their functional consequences in the nervous system.

In Alzheimer disease, the accumulation of amyloid-β (Aβ) is thought to drive both tau pathology and neurodegeneration. In this Review, van der Kant et al. discuss the evidence for Aβ-independent drivers of tau pathology in Alzheimer disease and the implications for therapeutic development.

Although the retinas of most vertebrates share the same basic blueprint, there is substantial variability in their detailed structure and function. Baden and colleagues describe the extent of this diversity and explore the factors that contribute to species-specific adaptations in retinal organization.

In individuals with inflammation of the central nervous system, B cells enter and accumulate in the cerebrospinal fluid, brain parenchyma and perivascular spaces. Here, Joseph Sabatino and colleagues review the contributions of B cells — both in the periphery and sequestered within the central nervous system — to the pathogenesis of several autoimmune and neurodegenerative diseases.

Emerging data suggest a key role for dopamine in the perceptual disturbances that occur in psychotic disorders. In this Review, Horga and Abi-Dargham discuss a framework focused on perceptual inference, emphasizing the role of dopamine and the relevant associative cortico–striatal circuits.

Genetically encoded voltage indicators (GEVIs) are emerging tools to elucidate the inner workings of the brain. In this Review, Knopfel and Song outline the potentials of GEVI imaging based on recent neurotechnological and conceptual advances in the brain sciences.

The complex spatiotemporal organization and regulation of sleep-related brain activity has been appreciated only in the past decade. Here, Adamantidis and colleagues review neurobiological mechanisms underlying local and large-scale neuronal network oscillations in the sleeping mammalian brain and how they relate to the global architecture of sleep.

RNA-binding proteins regulate the use of mRNA during periods of stress, in part through the formation of transient membraneless organelles known as stress granules. In this Review, Wolozin and Ivanov examine the biology of such granules in neurons and their potential roles in a number of neurodegenerative diseases.

Rodent models are essential for characterizing the mechanisms underlying depression as well as for the development of fast-acting and innovative antidepressants. Here, Anand Gururajan and colleagues review strategies for inducing depressive-like behaviours and endophenotypes, and discuss how genetic and circuit-dissection techniques might be used to refine existing models and generate new ones.

Dopamine signals are implicated in not only reporting reward prediction errors but also various probabilistic computations. In this Opinion article, Gershman and Uchida propose that these different roles for dopamine can be placed within a common reinforcement learning framework.

Astrocytes in the spinal cord and brain are involved in the regulation of physiological and pathological pain signalling. Ji and colleagues here describe the cellular and molecular mechanisms through which astrocytes contribute to the induction and maintenance of chronic pain and itch.

The brain’s default network is thought to comprise a set of regions in the association cortex. Randy Buckner and Lauren DiNicola review findings from humans, monkeys and rodents indicating that multiple subnetworks make up the default network and explore the implications of these observations.

The perirhinal cortex forms part of the medial temporal lobe and has an established role in episodic memory formation. Yasushi Miyashita reviews the neural circuitry and the function of the perirhinal cortex and proposes that it acts as a hub linking episodic and semantic memory.

Humans and other animals use spatial hearing to rapidly localize events in the environment. Here, van der Heijden and colleagues discuss the latest insights from neurophysiological, neuroimaging and computational modelling studies into the cortical encoding of sound location.

Mental imagery plays a role in a variety of cognitive processes such as memory recall. In this review, Joel Pearson discusses recent insights into the neural mechanisms that underlie visual imagery, how imagery can be objectively and reliably measured, and how it affects general cognition.

The whisker sensorimotor system provides rodents with tactile information about their immediate facial environment. In this Review, Carl Petersen examines the complex neuronal circuits of the whisker-related primary somatosensory cortex and how they contribute to sensorimotor processing.

Several specialized macrophage populations reside in the structures that border the mammalian CNS, including the meninges, perivascular spaces and choroid plexus. Prinz and colleagues review the development and characteristics of these ‘CNS-associated macrophages’ and describe their proposed contributions to CNS function and disease.

Optopharmacology enables endogenous ligands, receptors and ion channels to be rendered sensitive to light. Paoletti, Ellis-Davies and Mourot give an overview of current optopharmacological techniques and tools and describe the neuroscientific insights they have uncovered.

Specialized extracellular matrix structures known as perineuronal nets surround the soma and dendrites of many CNS neurons. Fawcett and colleagues provide an update on our current understanding of perineuronal net composition, formation and functional roles in brain function and disease.

A major challenge in neuroscience is the definition of neuronal types. Here, Paul and Huang give an overview of efforts to classify GABAergic cell types, and propose a framework in which cell types are transcriptionally defined communication elements with characteristic input–output properties.