Review Articles in 2012

In this review, the authors examine the link between adult hippocampal neurogenesis and anxiety and depression. They propose that impaired pattern separation underlies the overgeneralization often seen in anxiety disorders.

The authors review our understanding of the biological basis of resilience to stress. The review examines findings from both humans and animals and also discusses how this knowledge can help guide treatment for stress-related disorders.

This review discusses what we have learned about the neural regulation of feeding from genetic studies, both from studies in mutant mice and more recent genome-wide association studies in humans.

Circuits have been described in the hypothalamus and brainstem involved in regulating feeding and energy balance. In this review, the authors discuss the many peripheral signals that influence these central circuits to affect feeding behavior and energy balance.

Energy balance is maintained by neuronal populations throughout the central nervous system, but is primarily localized in the mediobasal hypothalamus. In this review, the authors discuss recent work examining plastic changes in hypothalamic circuits in response changes in nutrient availability and long-term energy status.

Many comparisons between obesity and drug addiction have been made in recent years. In this review, the authors critically compare the behavioral responses to food and drugs of abuse, as well as the neural circuitry involved in each, pointing out key differences between the two.

This review compares and contrasts decision-making processes in adults versus adolescents, to highlight how adolescent decision-making is particularly susceptible to modulation by emotional and social factors (such as peer pressure).

Despite being protected by the blood-brain barrier, the CNS must constantly be monitored for insult or pathogen invasion. In this review, the authors illustrate the molecular and cellular players that preside over this surveillance of the brain and spinal cord.

Acute exposure to a variety of pathogens or inflammatory insults leads to a well-characterized set of responses in the CNS, aimed at promoting the clearance of the infecting agent. In this review, the authors examine the various symptoms of this 'sickness syndrome' and the actions of prostaglandins in linking inflammation with these CNS responses.

Immune cells participating in CNS inflammation are now known to mediate both beneficial and detrimental effects. In this review, the authors examine the recently discovered bidirectional relationship between immune cells and neural stem cells and how these interactions may influence brain repair and provide new therapeutic targets.

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.

This review describes how both negative and positive social factors, ranging from stress to meditation, affect brain structure and functioning.

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.

This review discusses human neuroimaging as well as cellular studies to describe how learning sculpts the brain.

This review surveys the latest advances in the intrinsic regulatory programs directing the development and maintenance of vertebrate serotonin neurons. A new model of the regulatory program comprising a dynamic network of transcription factors is presented. The authors discuss the potential importance of network regulatory dysfunction in neuropsychiatric disorders.

This review article discusses the basis of β-amyloid's contribution to Alzheimer's disease pathology and critically examines the toxic Aβ oligomer hypothesis.

This is a review of current advances in the genetics of substance use disorders (SUDs), discussing how both genetic and environmental sources of risk are required to develop a complete picture of SUD etiology.

Here the authors review evidence suggesting that cocaine-induced changes in orbitofrontal cortex disrupt the representation of states and transition functions that form the basis of flexible behavioral control, resulting in reliance on less flexible control systems and consequently in the pattern of maladaptive behaviors associated with cocaine addiction.