Featured
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Bacteria hijack a meningeal neuroimmune axis to facilitate brain invasion
Two Streptococcus spp. can utilize a neuropeptide (CGRP) and its receptor (RAMP1) on macrophages to promote brain invasion, a finding that may help the development of therapies for bacterial meningitis.
- Felipe A. Pinho-Ribeiro
- , Liwen Deng
- & Isaac M. Chiu
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Article
| Open AccessThe cellular coding of temperature in the mammalian cortex
A study using calcium imaging in the mouse forepaw system identifies neurons in the posterior insular cortex that respond to cooling and/or warming with distinct response dynamics.
- M. Vestergaard
- , M. Carta
- & J. F. A. Poulet
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Article
| Open AccessThe encoding of touch by somatotopically aligned dorsal column subdivisions
Distinct subdivisions of low-threshold mechanoreceptors and postsynaptic dorsal column neurons converge at the dorsal column nuclei to code precise tactile representations.
- Josef Turecek
- , Brendan P. Lehnert
- & David D. Ginty
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Article
| Open AccessPIEZO1 transduces mechanical itch in mice
Experiments in mice show that the mechanically activated ion channel PIEZO1 is expressed in itch-specific sensory neurons and has a role in transducing mechanical itch.
- Rose Z. Hill
- , Meaghan C. Loud
- & Ardem Patapoutian
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Article |
Cortical responses to touch reflect subcortical integration of LTMR signals
Genetic manipulation of skin peripheral sensory neurons in mice shows that cortical neuron responses to touch reflect subcortical mixing of signals from both rapidly adapting and slowly adapting low-threshold mechanoreceptors.
- Alan J. Emanuel
- , Brendan P. Lehnert
- & David D. Ginty
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Article |
Structure and function of a neocortical synapse
Electrophysiology combined with correlated light and electron microscopy confirms the long-standing assumption that the size of a synapse is proportional to its strength, and reveals that neocortical synapses may have greater computational capacity than thought.
- Simone Holler
- , German Köstinger
- & Ken J. Stratford
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Article |
Parallel ascending spinal pathways for affective touch and pain
Two populations of neurons with distinct anatomy and receptor expression that convey information from the spinal cord to the brain have different functional properties with respect to touch and pain.
- Seungwon Choi
- , Junichi Hachisuka
- & David D. Ginty
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Article |
PIEZO2 in sensory neurons and urothelial cells coordinates urination
PIEZO2 is expressed in the bladder urothelium and sensory neurons innervating the lower urinary tract and is a key mechanosensor for the control of urination.
- Kara L. Marshall
- , Dimah Saade
- & Ardem Patapoutian
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Matters Arising |
Reply to: Heat detection by the TRPM2 ion channel
- Marie Mulier
- , Ine Vandewauw
- & Thomas Voets
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Matters Arising |
Heat detection by the TRPM2 ion channel
- Bruno Vilar
- , Chun-Hsiang Tan
- & Peter A. McNaughton
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Article |
Recurrent interactions in local cortical circuits
Computational modelling, imaging and single-cell ablation in layer 2/3 of the mouse vibrissal somatosensory cortex reveals that recurrent activity in cortical neurons can drive input-specific amplification during behaviour.
- Simon Peron
- , Ravi Pancholi
- & Karel Svoboda
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Letter |
Feature-selective encoding of substrate vibrations in the forelimb somatosensory cortex
Responses to passive vibration of the forelimb in the mouse somatosensory cortex rely on a rate code that is selectively tuned to a combination of stimulus frequency and amplitude, and originate from deep mechanoreceptors close to the bones.
- Mario Prsa
- , Karin Morandell
- & Daniel Huber
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Letter |
Identifying the pathways required for coping behaviours associated with sustained pain
In mice, the ablation of spinal neurons that co-express TAC1 and LBX1 leads to the loss of coping responses to sustained pain without affecting reflexive defensive reactions to external threats.
- Tianwen Huang
- , Shing-Hong Lin
- & Qiufu Ma
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Letter |
Sensation, movement and learning in the absence of barrel cortex
Mice can learn to detect objects with their whiskers and respond appropriately even in the absence of their primary somatosensory cortex.
- Y. Kate Hong
- , Clay O. Lacefield
- & Randy M. Bruno
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Letter |
Sensing with tools extends somatosensory processing beyond the body
Tools are embodied by the human somatosensory system, serving as sensory extensions of the human body.
- Luke E. Miller
- , Luca Montroni
- & Alessandro Farnè
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Article |
Piezo2 senses airway stretch and mediates lung inflation-induced apnoea
The mechanoreceptor Piezo2 is required for both the Hering–Breuer inflation reflex in adult mice and the inflation of the lungs of newborn mice.
- Keiko Nonomura
- , Seung-Hyun Woo
- & Ardem Patapoutian
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Letter |
Sensory-evoked LTP driven by dendritic plateau potentials in vivo
Whole-cell recordings in mouse somatosensory cortex in vivo show that rhythmic sensory-whisker stimulation induces long-term synaptic potentiation (LTP) in layer 2/3 (L2/3) pyramidal cells, in the absence of somatic spikes, through long-lasting NMDAR-mediated depolarizations that are generated by synaptic networks originating from the posteromedial complex of the thalamus.
- Frédéric Gambino
- , Stéphane Pagès
- & Anthony Holtmaat
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Letter |
Epidermal Merkel cells are mechanosensory cells that tune mammalian touch receptors
The cellular basis of touch has long been debated, in particular the relationship between sensory neurons and non-neuronal cells; a mouse study uses optogenetics to identify their distinct and collaborative roles, with skin-derived Merkel cells both transducing touch and actively tuning responses of touch-sensitive neurons.
- Srdjan Maksimovic
- , Masashi Nakatani
- & Ellen A. Lumpkin
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Letter |
Piezo2 is required for Merkel-cell mechanotransduction
A mouse study shows that non-neuronal epidermal Merkel cells aid fine-touch perception in the skin through their expression of the Piezo2 mechanosensitive cation channel which then actively tunes the response to touch in adjacent somatosensory neurons.
- Seung-Hyun Woo
- , Sanjeev Ranade
- & Ardem Patapoutian
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Article |
Bacteria activate sensory neurons that modulate pain and inflammation
This study shows that most known mediators of immunity, such as TLR2, MyD88, T cells or B cells, and neutrophils and monocytes, are dispensable for pain produced by Staphylococcus aureus infection; instead, bacterial products, such as N-formylated peptides and α-haemolysin, induce pain by directly activating nociceptor neurons, which in turn modulate inflammation.
- Isaac M. Chiu
- , Balthasar A. Heesters
- & Clifford J. Woolf
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Letter |
Behaviour-dependent recruitment of long-range projection neurons in somatosensory cortex
In the mouse whisker region of primary somatosensory cortex (S1), neurons projecting to secondary somatosensory cortex (S2) and primary motor cortex (M1), respectively, are differentially activated during distinct whisker-based behavioural tasks; sensory stimulus features alone do not elicit these differences, suggesting that selective transmission of S1 information to S2 and M1 is driven by behaviour.
- Jerry L. Chen
- , Stefano Carta
- & Fritjof Helmchen
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Letter |
Black mamba venom peptides target acid-sensing ion channels to abolish pain
A new class of peptides, mambalgins, is isolated from the African snake the black mamba, which can abolish pain through inhibition of particular subtypes of acid-sensing ion channels expressed either in central or peripheral neurons.
- Sylvie Diochot
- , Anne Baron
- & Eric Lingueglia
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Letter |
Activity in motor–sensory projections reveals distributed coding in somatosensation
Imaging of activity in long-range axons is reported in mice performing tactile object-localization with their whiskers; the feedback projection from the motor cortex to the somatosensory cortex provides information to integrate whisker movement information and touch, which are key components of object identification.
- Leopoldo Petreanu
- , Diego A. Gutnisky
- & Karel Svoboda
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Article |
Crystal structure of the µ-opioid receptor bound to a morphinan antagonist
The crystal structure of the mouse μ-opioid receptor bound to an antagonist is described, with possible implications for the future development of analgesics.
- Aashish Manglik
- , Andrew C. Kruse
- & Sébastien Granier
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Letter |
Modulation of TRPA1 thermal sensitivity enables sensory discrimination in Drosophila
Many TRP ion channels respond to more than one category of cue, and how they discriminate between them is largely unknown; the mechanism by which TRPA1 discriminates between sensory stimuli in Drosophila is now determined.
- Kyeongjin Kang
- , Vincent C. Panzano
- & Paul A. Garrity
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Letter |
Natural polymorphisms in C. elegans HECW-1 E3 ligase affect pathogen avoidance behaviour
Natural variation in hecw-1 encoding an E3 ubiquitin ligase influences the avoidance of pathogenic bacteria by Caenorhabditis elegans and forms a molecular basis for behavioural variation.
- Howard C. Chang
- , Jennifer Paek
- & Dennis H. Kim
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Letter |
A heteromeric Texas coral snake toxin targets acid-sensing ion channels to produce pain
- Christopher J. Bohlen
- , Alexander T. Chesler
- & David Julius
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Letter |
Grid cells without theta oscillations in the entorhinal cortex of bats
- Michael M. Yartsev
- , Menno P. Witter
- & Nachum Ulanovsky
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Research Highlights |
Pups' smell tunes mum's hearing
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News |
Monkey brains 'feel' virtual objects
Macaques use a brain-controlled virtual hand to identify artificial texture of objects.
- Susan Young
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Letter |
Active tactile exploration using a brain–machine–brain interface
- Joseph E. O’Doherty
- , Mikhail A. Lebedev
- & Miguel A. L. Nicolelis
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Letter |
Molecular organization of vomeronasal chemoreception
- Yoh Isogai
- , Sheng Si
- & Catherine Dulac
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Letter |
Ganglion-specific splicing of TRPV1 underlies infrared sensation in vampire bats
- Elena O. Gracheva
- , Julio F. Cordero-Morales
- & David Julius
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Letter |
DISC1-dependent switch from progenitor proliferation to migration in the developing cortex
- Koko Ishizuka
- , Atsushi Kamiya
- & Akira Sawa
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Research Highlights |
Cognitive neuroscience: How self-touch relieves pain
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Research Highlights |
Neuroscience: No brain pain control
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News |
Mouse pain study stirs debate
Canadian scientists vindicated after being accused of mistreating laboratory animals.
- Janelle Weaver
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Books & Arts |
A flowering of pleasure and pain
The latest collaborative artwork from neuroscientist Morten Kringelbach and artist Annie Cattrell reveals — and revels in — sensory dialogues in the brain, explains Martin Kemp.
- Martin Kemp
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News |
Mice pull pained expressions
Animal and human faces display similar responses to suffering.
- Janelle Weaver
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Article |
Lateral competition for cortical space by layer-specific horizontal circuits
A common anatomical feature of the sensory cortex in many species is that neurons with similar features cluster into vertically orientated domains spanning all layers of the cortex. Moreover, neurons in one domain modulate neurons in neighbouring domains through horizontal connections. A combination of techniques has now been used to show that such horizontal projections suppress layers of cortex devoted to processing inputs, but facilitate layers devoted to outputs.
- Hillel Adesnik
- & Massimo Scanziani
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Molecular basis of infrared detection by snakes
Snakes are notoriously apt at generating 'thermal images' of predators or prey. The underlying physiology has been unclear, although in snakes such as pythons, vipers and boas, infrared signals are initially received by the pit organ. Here it is shown that pit-bearing snakes rely on heat detection by the ion channel TRPA1. This extends the sensory repertoire of the TRPA1 family of proteins, which detect chemical irritants in mammals and thermal variations in insects.
- Elena O. Gracheva
- , Nicholas T. Ingolia
- & David Julius