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In this study, the authors show that microglia play an important role in the propagation of pathogenic tau protein. In addition, the authors find that spread of the tau protein occurs via exosome secretion from these microglial cells.
The study of speech or vocal disorder resulting from neurological diseases lacks a model capable of recapitulating vocal learning. This study suggests that the vocal disorder associated with Huntington's disease is observed in transgenic zebra finches carrying the full-length human mutant huntingtin gene.
Optogenetic suppression of layer 4 in the sensory cortex reveals a surprising role for its activity in the cortical microcircuit: layer 4 suppresses the main cortical output layer—layer 5—through a direct translaminar inhibitory circuit. This translaminar inhibition sharpens spatial representations in the somatosensory cortex.
Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) are widely used antidepressants, but the mechanisms by which they influence behavior are only partially resolved. Using a combination of different approaches, the authors demonstrate that serotonin 1A receptors expressed in mature dentate gyrus granule cells are critical mediators of the response to SSRIs.
The prevailing view for purinergic P2X receptor channels is that their ion conduction pores dilate upon prolonged activation. This study finds that the hallmark shift in equilibrium potential observed with prolonged channel activation does not result from pore dilation, but from time-dependent alterations in the concentration of intracellular ions.
New memory traces are believed to be reactivated and reorganized during sleep, mediated by the fine-tuned temporal interplay of neocortical slow oscillations, thalamo-cortical spindles and hippocampal ripples. The authors used intracranial recordings in humans to provide, for the first time, direct evidence for a systematic interaction of these oscillations in the human hippocampus.
How does the brain stop a planned action that has suddenly become inappropriate? Here, Mayse et al. identify a novel subcortical mechanism of inhibitory control in the basal forebrain outside the canonical fronto-basal-ganglia circuit. Basal forebrain neuronal inhibition enables rapid behavioral stopping and also determines its speed.
The authors present a new observer model that combines efficient (en)coding and Bayesian decoding. The model makes the seemingly ‘anti-Bayesian’ prediction that perception can be biased away from an observer's prior expectations. Psychophysical data that previously were difficult to explain are well-matched by the model's prediction.
Based on the finding that the concentration of mRNA encoding olfactory chemoreceptors decreases after odorant stimulation, the authors developed a large-scale transcriptomic approach that allows the identification of ligand-chemoreceptor pairs in various species in vivo. This represents a critical step in our understanding of combinatorial coding of odors.
Dendrite arbor morphology is critical for neuron function. Yalgin and colleagues find that the activity of Centrosomin, used to build the mitotic spindle, is recycled after mitosis in dendrites. Centrosomin shapes the arbor by engaging microtubule nucleation at dendritic Golgi outposts to orient microtubule polarization in nascent branches.
Less is known about the role of amygdala circuits in anxiety than in acute fear responses. In this study, the authors demonstrate that aversive experience induces anxiety in mice by regulating the excitability of a defined subset of central amygdala neurons via extrasynaptic α5 GABAA receptors.
Using awake and freely behaving mice, this study employs a high-throughput in vivo RNA-seq approach to identify odorant receptor repertoires. The authors find sets of odorant receptors for two odorants encompassing 69 odorant receptor-odor pairs and develop models to predict receptor activation.
The locus coeruleus is a major neuromodulatory center for the mammalian brain. Here, the authors show that presenting sounds when locus coeruleus is active leads to enduring modifications of responses in auditory cortex and locus coeruleus. These synaptic and spiking changes have a profound effect on auditory perception for weeks.
The optimal disambiguation of similar sensory stimuli by neuronal networks is essential to adapt animal behavior. Gschwend and colleagues show that the olfactory bulb network acts as a pattern separator, increasing slight differences between highly related odors. Inhibitory interneuron activation causally improves pattern separation and facilitates odor discrimination learning.
Memory formation requires gene transcription, but the link between synaptic activity and transcription is not fully understood. Brd4 regulates transcription in other cell types and Brd4 family inhibitors are in clinical trials for cancer. The authors show that Brd4 is important for activity-dependent gene transcription in neurons and memory consolidation.
Some stress-related memories are state-dependent: they cannot be retrieved unless the brain is in the same state as during initial encoding. The authors show that hippocampal extrasynaptic GABAA receptors, regulated by miR-33, support state-dependent contextual fear conditioning by altering the processing of context memories within the extended hippocampal circuit.
This study shows conserved EAG2 potassium channel function in brain tumorigenesis and metastasis, cooperation of different potassium channels for mitotic volume regulation, and EAG2 enrichment at the trailing edge for local volume regulation and cell motility. The authors identified the FDA-approved drug thioridazine as an EAG2 blocker of potential therapeutic value.
This study examines how key inputs to a brain area vital for song production can interact cooperatively to change each other. The authors show that naturalistic stimulation patterns drive bidirectional in vitro plasticity in synaptic inputs to a song production area, and use this understanding to manipulate song plasticity in vivo.
Using in vivo imaging, the authors explore how dopamine loss in Parkinson’s disease mouse models affects synaptic plasticity in motor cortex. They find that dopamine D1 and D2 receptor signaling distinctly regulates dendritic spine dynamics and that dopamine loss results in atypical synaptic adaptations. These mechanisms may contribute to impaired motor performance in Parkinson's disease.
By recording from cerebellar output neurons during motor learning, the authors provide direct evidence for an elegant computation requiring the comparison of predicted and actual sensory feedback to signal unexpected sensation. Their results suggest that rapid updating of the cerebellum's internal model enables the brain to learn to expect unexpected sensory input.
