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In this Perspective, Vollenweider and Kometer discuss the clinical potential of psychedelic drugs for the treatment of various psychiatric disorders, and describe the molecular mechanisms by which classical hallucinogens and dissociative anaesthetics affect serotonin and glutamate systems. An interview with Franz X. Vollenweider for Neuropod is available for download.
The brain encodes representations of smells through the synthesis of different olfactory inputs into a unified whole. Jay Gottfried discusses the central mechanisms of perception of these 'odour objects' and describes the role of the piriform cortex in this process.
Glycogen synthase kinase 3 (GSK3) proteins and their upstream and downstream regulators have key roles in neurodevelopmental processes. Hur and Zhou review the mechanisms that regulate GSK3 activity and discuss how GSK3 controls neurogenesis, neuronal polarization and axon growth.
All retinal neurons are generated from multipotent progenitor cells through a step-wise process that increasingly restricts lineage choices. Swaroop and colleagues discuss our current understanding of the transcription factors and gene-regulatory networks involved in photoreceptor subtype specification and photoreceptor development.
Circadian cycling of biological processes is widely conserved across phylogeny. Gerstner and Yin discuss how regulators of circadian rhythms — including clock genes, melatonin and the suprachiasmatic nucleus — affect synaptic plasticity and memory formation.
The interrelationship between circadian and sleep rhythm abnormalities and neurological disease has long been recognized. Foster and colleagues now provide a conceptual framework regarding common mechanisms of neurological disease and circadian and sleep physiology, and propose new approaches for the treatment of neuropsychiatric and neurodegenerative diseases.
Polarity is an essential requirement for neuronal function. Matthew Rasband describes the role of the axon initial segment in the development and maintenance of neuronal polarity and discusses how its disruption can lead to disorders of the nervous system.
The habenula is present in vertebrate brains but its function has remained obscure. Okihide Hikosaka reviews data from animal and human studies that indicate that the habenula, through its effects on dopamine and serotonin systems, regulates motor suppression in various contexts.
The diagnosis of autism is based on behavioural criteria. Robust phenotypes in mouse models hold great promise for the discovery of effective treatments for the core symptoms of autism spectrum disorders. Crawley and colleagues review the behavioural assays that are most relevant to the symptoms of human autism, along with the essential control measures.
In this comprehensive Review, Collingridge and colleagues describe the mechanisms underlying the induction and expression of various forms of long-term depression (LTD), and discuss the role of LTD in learning and memory as well as in various pathological processes.
Individual neurons transform the relationship between synaptic input and output firing by utilizing both linear and nonlinear mechanisms. Angus Silver discusses the various underlying biophysical mechanisms in relation to the complexity of neuronal morphology and the neural coding regimes in which they are likely to operate.
The traditional distinction between declarative and nondeclarative forms of memory is based on conscious versus non-conscious learning and recall. Katharina Henke argues that consciousness is a poor criterion and presents an alternative model of memory systems that is based on processing operations.
Microdeletions in chromosome 22q11.2 cause substantial impairments in several areas of attention and increase the risk of developing schizophrenia. Karayiorgou and colleagues discuss the complex genetic and neural substrates that are altered by these microdeletions, drawing on data obtained from human patients and animal models.
Understanding the molecular basis of a cell's differentiation capacity will greatly aid attempts to use stem cells for therapeutic purposes. In this Review, Hirabayashi and Gotoh discuss the mounting evidence implicating epigenetic mechanisms in the regulation of cell fate during neural development.
Nicotine addiction is notoriously difficult to overcome. In this article, Changeux reviews studies in transgenic mice that have started to reveal which nicotine receptor subunits mediate the effects of nicotine on behaviour, cognition and addiction and so might form therapeutic targets for nicotine addiction.
Keysers and colleagues review evidence that perceiving the sensations, actions and somatic pain of others induces activation in the somatosensory cortex. Perhaps similar to the mirror system for action understanding, this capacity might contribute to our understanding of other individuals' experiences.
Sir Charles Sherrington's work forms the basis of our current understanding of numerous aspects of nervous system physiology. Inspired by the recent rediscovery of a collection of Sherrington's histology slides, Molnár and Brown revisit his lifetime's achievements in neuroscience.
Jan and Jan discuss various mechanisms by which neurons acquire their type-specific dendrite morphology. These have largely emerged from studies inDrosophila melanogaster, but are broadly applicable to vertebrates. The possible contribution of defects in dendrite morphogenesis to mental disorders such as autism is also considered.
Two main features make budding yeast a key model organism for eukaryotic biology: its amenability to analysis and its conserved genome and cellular biology. Here, the authors highlight the valuable mechanistic insights into the cell-autonomous mechanisms of neurodegeneration that are emerging from studies inSaccharomyces cerevisiae.
Activation of GIRK channels decreases the excitability of neurons. Lüscher and Slesinger discuss the subunit composition and function of GIRK channels in several brain regions and the possible role of GIRK channel dysfunction in neurological diseases such as epilepsy, Down's syndrome and drug addiction.
