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The diverse population of retinal cell types has now been shown to include one that does a neat trick: an interneuron inverts the sign of the retina's response to blue light, creating the blue-Off output signal to the brain.
Changes in pupil diameter may reflect the dynamic processes in the brain that allow us to detect and rapidly adapt to hidden changes in the world. What's more, unrelated manipulations of pupil size may in turn influence these processes.
How do we feel temperature? A study now finds that a recently discovered anion channel is a temperature sensor that, like previously identified cation channels, mediates the perception of noxious hot temperatures.
Despite years of research, what regulates neurotransmitter release at synapses is still not fully understood. Physiological and ultrastructural approaches now reveal critical structural parameters of the presynaptic active zone correlating with release probability: the size of the active zone and the number of calcium channels.
In this perspective, the authors review new developments that suggest that many diseases share features with prion infections. They also highlight some of the critical open questions in prion biology, including how prions damage their hosts and how hosts attempt to neutralize invading prions.
The authors review recent research examining how social categories of race and ethnicity are processed, evaluated and incorporated in decision-making. They also speculate about the potential of future work to inform how we recognize and respond to variations in race and its influence on unintended race-based attitudes and decisions.
A large study of impulsivity in 14-year-olds finds that substance use and ADHD symptoms are associated with different brain networks that inhibit motor responses. Genetic analysis implicates the noradrenergic system in activity levels in one of these networks, which is centered on the right frontal cortex.
By bringing mGluR1/5 and proline-directed kinases together, the scaffold protein Preso1 stabilizes the interaction between mGluR1/5 and Homer. This mechanism may attenuate calcium influx into spinal neurons and reduce pain.
How do outcomes affect future behavior? A study using precise optogenetic stimulation finds that learning from positive reinforcement is mediated by striatal pathways distinct from those that mediate learning from punishment.
A long-standing puzzle has been the seeming inconsistency between neuronal responses in primary visual cortex to colored stimuli and the elementary perceptual attributes of color vision. Nonlinear analysis resolves this paradox.
How does the brain evaluate whether the benefits of a decision outweigh the costs? A study now reveals that neurons in the anterior cingulate cortex encode costs and benefits, and altering brain activity here biases choices away from negative outcomes. These results link anterior cingulate cortex with the regulation of emotional states.
Tanycytes in the hypothalamic median eminence have now been found to form a metabolically sensitive neurogenic niche in the brain. In adult mice, tanycytes give rise to hypothalamic regulatory neurons in response to a high-fat diet.
In the developing cortex, spike timing–dependent long-term depression requires cannabinoid-induced glutamate release from astrocytes. Astrocytes may be integral to the coincidence detection that guides plasticity and map formation.
Odorants are now shown to elevate mitochondrial Ca2+ in sensory neurons; moreover, blocking this Ca2+ sequestration impairs dynamic range. Acute stimulation rapidly recruits mitochondria from the soma to the dendritic knob.
Although the relationship between social factors and physical health outcomes is well-recognized, the modulatory role of neural processing in this link is less well understood. This perspective describes the way in which neurophysiological processes respond to social connection and disconnection to influence health outcomes.
How does the neuroendocrine system modulate social behavior? The authors review animal as well as human work that aims to answer this question, and suggest ways to advance further research.
