Neural circuits articles within Nature Communications

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  • Article
    | Open Access

    In vivo laser ablation of dendrites in single L2/3 pyramidal neurons reveals that neuronal orientation tuning in V1 is robust to loss of dendritic input. Orientation tuning functions remain unchanged following apical dendrite ablation and change only slightly upon loss of two primary basal dendrites.

    • Jiyoung Park
    • , Athanasia Papoutsi
    •  & Stelios M. Smirnakis

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Rapid eye movement (REM) sleep is a sleep phase characterised by random eye movements for which the underlying motor commands are yet to be revealed. The authors describe that a cluster of medulla oblongata neurons in the Nucleus papiliocontributes to the control of eye movements during REM sleep.

    • C. Gutierrez Herrera
    • , F. Girard
    •  & M. R. Celio

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Glutamatergic neurons in the mammalian cortex are born from a heterogeneous pool of embryonic progenitors, however, it is unclear how these different progenitors contribute to diversity within the mature cortex. In this study, authors combine in utero progenitor labeling techniques with targeted Patch-Seq methods and high resolution synaptic circuit mapping in the mature mouse cortex to show that intermediate progenitors can generate restricted sets of transcriptomically-defined glutamatergic neurons that have distinct patterns of local and long-range synaptic connections.

    • Tommas J. Ellender
    • , Sophie V. Avery
    •  & Colin J. Akerman

  • Article
    | Open Access

    In congenitally blind people, tactile stimuli can activate the occipital (visual) cortex. Here, the authors show using magnetoencephalography (MEG) that occipital activation can occur within 35 ms following tactile stimulation, suggesting the existence of a fast thalamocortical pathway for touch in congenitally blind humans.

    • Franziska Müller
    • , Guiomar Niso
    •  & Ron Kupers

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Several cortical association areas have rapidly expanded in size during human evolution, including elements of the central cognitive default mode network (DMN). Here, the authors show that genes highly divergent between humans and other primates (HAR genes) are particularly expressed in these brain regions.

    • Yongbin Wei
    • , Siemon C. de Lange
    •  & Martijn P. van den Heuvel

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Neuronal tuning is typically measured in response to a priori defined behavioural variables of interest. Here, the authors use an unsupervised learning approach to recover neuronal tuning with respect to the recorded network activity and show that this can reveal the relevant behavioural variables.

    • Alon Rubin
    • , Liron Sheintuch
    •  & Yaniv Ziv

  • Article
    | Open Access

    It has been challenging to perform super-resolution imaging in large volumes due to aberrations encountered. Here, the authors combine single-wavelength Bessel lightsheet localization microscopy with tissue clearing techniques and image neurons across the whole brain of adult fruit flies.

    • Li-An Chu
    • , Chieh-Han Lu
    •  & Bi-Chang Chen

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Designer Receptors Exclusively Activated by Designer Drugs (DREADDs) are a powerful tool for neuroscience, but the standard DREADD ligand, CNO, has significant drawbacks. Here the authors report two novel high-potency DREADD ligands and a novel DREADD radiotracer for imaging purposes.

    • Jordi Bonaventura
    • , Mark A. G. Eldridge
    •  & Michael Michaelides

  • Article
    | Open Access

    In addition to serotonin neurons, the dorsal raphe nucleus (DR) also contains dopamine, glutamate, and GABA neurons. Here, the authors systematically compare the neurochemical identity, cell type specificity, anatomical distribution, and connectivity of DR cells targeted by commonly used Cre lines.

    • Daniel F. Cardozo Pinto
    • , Hongbin Yang
    •  & Stephan Lammel

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Hunger modulates perception of good and bad tastes. Here, the authors report that orexigenic AgRP neurons in the hypothalamus mediate these effects through glutamatergic lateral hypothalamic neurons that send distinct projections to the lateral septum and lateral habenula.

    • Ou Fu
    • , Yuu Iwai
    •  & Ken-ichiro Nakajima

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Neural signalling is directional, but non-invasive neuroimaging methods are unable to map directed connections between brain regions. Here, the authors show how network communication measures can be used to infer signalling directionality from the undirected topology of brain structural connectomes.

    • Caio Seguin
    • , Adeel Razi
    •  & Andrew Zalesky

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The laterodorsal tegmental nucleus (LDT) is known to influence reward processing through its projections to the VTA. Here, the authors report that the cholinergic projections from the LDT to the nucleus accumbens play an important role in motivation and positive reinforcement behaviors.

    • Bárbara Coimbra
    • , Carina Soares-Cunha
    •  & Ana João Rodrigues

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The GABAergic and peptidergic neuron RIS mediates sleep in Caenorhabditis elegans. The authors demonstrated here that RIS also functions as a locomotion stop neuron. Its optogenetic stimulation caused acute and persistent inhibition of locomotion, and brief intrinsic RIS activity preceded slowing.

    • Wagner Steuer Costa
    • , Petrus Van der Auwera
    •  & Alexander Gottschalk

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Light intensity on the retina can fluctuate rapidly during natural vision, posing a challenge for encoding visual information. Here, the authors report that mechanisms of sensitization/facilitation maintain the sensitivity of the numerically dominant neural pathway in the primate retina during dynamic vision.

    • Todd R. Appleby
    •  & Michael B. Manookin

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The nature of the signals that propagate through feedforward networks is not well understood. Here, the authors combine microfabrication, multilayer cortical cultures, and optogenetic stimulation to show that NMDA-mediated synaptic current generates a sustained phase of activity that propagates firing rate signals.

    • Jérémie Barral
    • , Xiao-Jing Wang
    •  & Alex D. Reyes

  • Article
    | Open Access

    A combination of large-scale connectomics with cellular and synapse data to generate a first draft statistical model of the neuron-to-neuron micro-connectome of a whole mouse neocortex. This micro-connectome recreates biological trends of targeting on the macro-, meso-, and micro-scale.

    • Michael W. Reimann
    • , Michael Gevaert
    •  & Eilif Muller

  • Article
    | Open Access

    During epileptic seizures, neural activity across the brain switches into a hyperactive and hypersynchronized state. Here, the authors report on the role of glia-glia and glia-neuron interactions in mediating the changes that result in the ictal state in a zebrafish model of epilepsy.

    • Carmen Diaz Verdugo
    • , Sverre Myren-Svelstad
    •  & Emre Yaksi

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Microelectromechanical neural probes can cause tissue damage and often cannot record from distant brain areas. Here the authors combine electrical recording, optical stimulation and microfluidic drug delivery in one multi-shank probe with thinner shanks to reduce damage and a flexible design to target long-range neural circuits.

    • Hyogeun Shin
    • , Yoojin Son
    •  & Il-Joo Cho

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Whether cortical neurons can fire reliable spikes amid cellular noise and chaotic network dynamics remains debated. Here the authors simulate a detailed neocortical microcircuit model and show that noisy and chaotic cortical network dynamics are compatible with stimulus-evoked, millisecond spike-time reliability.

    • Max Nolte
    • , Michael W. Reimann
    •  & Eilif B. Muller

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Microsaccades are small-amplitude, fixational eye movements that are largely thought to be involuntary. Here, the authors demonstrate that monkeys (and humans) can be easily trained to respond to a remembered target location with a volitional microsaccade, and that a population of superior colliculus neurons is selectively associated with them.

    • Konstantin F. Willeke
    • , Xiaoguang Tian
    •  & Ziad M. Hafed

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Layer 4 spiny stellate cells project locally while pyramidal neurons have long-range projections yet the molecular program that determines their specificity is not yet known. Here, the authors demonstrate that Egr, Foxg1 and COUP-TFI transcription factors play causal role in the specification of these cell types.

    • Pei-Shan Hou
    • , Goichi Miyoshi
    •  & Carina Hanashima

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The molecular mechanisms of memory storage remain poorly understood. In this study, authors describe a new mechanism that regulates the cellular patterns of early response gene signaling during learning via the recruitment of two functionally redundant nuclear repressors, class IIa histone deacetylases (HDACs) 4 and 5

    • Yongchuan Zhu
    • , Min Huang
    •  & Anton Maximov

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The precise cell-type specific role of inhibitory interneurons in regulating sensory responses in the olfactory bulb is not known. Here, the authors report that removing GABAergic inhibition from one layer differentially affects response dynamics of the two main output cell types and changes odor mixture processing.

    • Gary Liu
    • , Emmanouil Froudarakis
    •  & Benjamin R. Arenkiel

  • Article
    | Open Access

    It is thought that higher cortical areas are more plastic than lower ones, but there is little direct evidence for this. Here, the authors show that plasticity (defined as lower heritability) of functional connectivity decreases from early to mid-level visual cortex, and then increases further up the visual hierarchy.

    • Koen V. Haak
    •  & Christian F. Beckmann

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Olfactory information from Kenyon cells in the mushroom body and reward information from pPAM dopaminergic neurons is required for appetitive olfactory learning and memory. Here, the authors report evidence for a feedback circuit mechanism between Kenyon cells and pPAM neurons for reward memory that involves short neuropeptide F.

    • Radostina Lyutova
    • , Mareike Selcho
    •  & Dennis Pauls

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Spinal CPGs transmit movement commands through rhythmic synaptic drive onto the spinal premotor network. Here, the authors use paired recordings to demonstrate that spinal neurons have decorrelated synaptic activity suggesting a CPG network with sparse convergent connectivity.

    • Marija Radosevic
    • , Alex Willumsen
    •  & Rune W. Berg

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Region-specific increases in hippocampal activity have been reported in schizophrenia patients, yet there are little known about how these circuit levels changes modulate behavioral deficits. Here authors found that that over-expression of the a5 subunit of the GABAA receptor increased tonic GABA currents and normalized aberrant pyramidal cell activity in the ventral hippocampus which had distinct disease symptom outcomes depending on the pathway targeted

    • J. J. Donegan
    • , A. M. Boley
    •  & D. J. Lodge

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Many natural behaviours involve tracking of a target in space. Here, the authors describe a task to assess this behaviour in mice and use in vivo electrophysiology, calcium imaging, optogenetics, and chemogenetics to investigate the role of the striatum in target pursuit.

    • Namsoo Kim
    • , Haofang E. Li
    •  & Henry H. Yin

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The brain stores memories through a set of neurons known as engram cells. Here, the authors show that engram cells in the mouse hippocampus are organized into sub-ensembles representing distinct pieces of information, which are then orchestrated to constitute an entire memory.

    • Khaled Ghandour
    • , Noriaki Ohkawa
    •  & Kaoru Inokuchi

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Synchronised neuronal activity is essential for cortical function, yet mechanistic insights into this process remain limited. Here, authors use a combination of in vivo imaging and targeted whole-cell recordings to demonstrate that Somatostatin neurons, in the superficial layers of the mouse primary visual cortex, exhibit functional heterogeneity and can be classified into two distinct subtypes characterized as either having type I uncorrelated, or type II highly correlated with network activity.

    • Ulf Knoblich
    • , Lawrence Huang
    •  & Lu Li

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The mechanisms of contextual modulation in direction selective ganglion cells in the retina remain unclear. Here, the authors find that that On-Off direction-selective ganglion cells are differentially sensitive to discontinuities of dark and bright moving edges in the visual environment and, using synapse-specific genetic manipulations with functional measurements, reveal the microcircuits underlying this contextual sensitivity.

    • Xiaolin Huang
    • , Melissa Rangel
    •  & Wei Wei

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Little is known about mechanisms that regulate the involvement of cortical engram cells in remote memory. Here, authors demonstrate that memory consolidation by mPFC engram cells requires CREB-mediated transcription, with the functionality of this network hub being gated by memory strength.

    • Mariana R. Matos
    • , Esther Visser
    •  & Michel C. van den Oever

  • Article
    | Open Access

    We make decisions with varying degrees of confidence and, if our confidence in a decision falls, we may change our mind. Here, the authors present a neuronal circuit model to account for how change of mind occurs under particular low-confidence conditions.

    • Nadim A. A. Atiya
    • , Iñaki Rañó
    •  & KongFatt Wong-Lin

  • Article
    | Open Access

    During evoked swims, zebrafish larvae transition from fast to slow speeds. Here, the authors elucidate the circuit mechanisms in the central pattern generators in the spinal cord and show that genetically labeled V1 spinal interneurons provide in phase inhibition onto fast and slow motor neurons that are involved in the switching behaviour.

    • Yukiko Kimura
    •  & Shin-ichi Higashijima

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Ribbon synapses in our sensory nervous system are central to hearing and sight, yet little is known about how these synapses are assembled and maintained during development. In this study, authors use live imaging techniques to monitor ribbon appearance, loss and maintenance in a retinal circuit during development to show that nascent synapses comprising of both ribbons and PSD95 are more stable over time compared to contacts without ribbons.

    • Haruhisa Okawa
    • , Wan-Qing Yu
    •  & Rachel O. L. Wong

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The wiring of peripheral neural circuits that regulate heart rate is poorly understood. In this study, authors used tissue clearing for high-resolution characterization of nerves in the heart in 3D and transgenic and novel viral vector approaches to identify peripheral parasympathetic and sympathetic neuronal populations involved in heart rate control in mice.

    • Pradeep S. Rajendran
    • , Rosemary C. Challis
    •  & Kalyanam Shivkumar

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Spike and wave discharge (SWD) activity is seen during absence seizures and is thought to be thalamocortical in origin. Here, the authors show that SWDs are initiated through the impaired corticostriatal excitatory transmissions onto striatal fast spiking interneurons.

    • Hiroyuki Miyamoto
    • , Tetsuya Tatsukawa
    •  & Kazuhiro Yamakawa

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