Research articles

Girardeau et al. show that coordinated reactivations of functionally connected neurons between the hippocampus and the basolateral amygdala occur during sharp wave–ripples of sleep following training on an aversive spatial task. These findings suggest a mechanism by which emotional memories are consolidated during sleep.

Long-range enhancer interactions regulate gene expression, yet how they influence CNS development and disease remains unclear. Glasgow et al. identified glia-specific elements and 3D chromatin architectures regulating NFIA expression during development. They also found that deletion of these enhancers suppresses NFIA expression and tumorigenesis in an in vivo glioma model.

Monkeys, like humans, normally have face domains in inferotemporal cortex; however, monkeys raised without exposure to faces do not develop face patches. Normally reared monkeys, like humans, preferentially look at faces, but face-deprived monkeys do not. These results highlight the importance of early experience for normal sensory and cognitive development.

Animals combine multiple cues to navigate the environment. By performing calcium imaging in fruit flies navigating in a virtual space, the authors show that information about recent visual experience and self-motion is separately encoded in parallel neural pathways in the central brain of Drosophila.

This paper reports the availability of a new Resource with RNA-seq, DNA methylation and H3K9Ac QTL results from 411 brain samples. Many xQTL SNPs influence multiple molecular features, and the authors observe epigenetic mediation of eQTLs in some cases. Reanalyzing GWAS with an xQTL-weighted approach detected 20 new CNS disease susceptibility loci.

Using two-photon Ca²⁺ imaging in hippocampal area CA1 of Df(16)A^+/− mice, an animal model of 22q11.2 deletion syndrome, the authors found a reduction in spatial map stability compared to that in wild-type mice, as well as an absence of goal-directed place cell reorganization during goal-oriented spatial learning.

Human perception can improve through repeated practice, enabling perceptual learning. The authors report findings challenging the fundamental ‘practice makes perfect’ basis of procedural learning theory. They show that brief periods in which visual memory is reactivated are sufficient to improve basic perceptual thresholds, supporting a new account of perceptual learning dynamics.

Neocortical resident microglia are long-lived cells. Füger et al. report that approximately half of these cells survive for the entire lifespan of a mouse. While microglial proliferation under homeostatic conditions is low, proliferation is increased in a mouse model of Alzheimer's disease.

Brain self-assembly is thought to be initiated by pioneer neurons whose identity is unknown. Rapti et al., addressing this long-standing mystery, uncover key steps in forming the brain-like nerve ring of C. elegans. Glia initiate the structure, using Netrin to guide pioneer neurons, whose identity is characterized. Glia and pioneer neurons then together direct follower-axon guidance using redundant guidance factors.

The amygdala central nucleus (CeA) has been implicated in feeding regulation, but the underlying circuit mechanisms are incompletely understood. The authors show, in mice, that GABAergic serotonin receptor 2a–expressing CeA neurons are active during eating and promote positive reinforcement and food consumption, partly through long-range inhibition of the parabrachial nucleus.

How GABAergic interneurons regulate segregation and integration among pyramidal cells to separate brain networks remains unclear. In this study, the authors show that subsets of chandelier cells in prelimbic area mediate directional inhibitory control of both local pyramidal neuron ensembles and global cortical subnetworks.

Recovery of the developing cerebellum after depletion of granule cells, the most plentiful neuron population, depends on adaptive reprogramming of neural progenitors to a new fate and a powerful cell–cell communication system that ensures re-establishment of the correct proportions of different cerebellar cell types and normal circuit formation.

Using an adeno-associated virus–mediated, direct in vivo CRISPR screen, the authors mapped a quantitative landscape of glioblastoma suppressors. Their study revealed gene combinations that functionally drive gliomagenesis from normal glia in native mouse brains. The authors further demonstrate that mutational background can differentially influence gene expression and chemotherapeutic resistance.

The authors propose a framework for drug repositioning by comparing GWAS-imputed transcriptomes with drug-induced gene expression profiles. The approach was applied to seven psychiatric disorders. Repositioning candidates were significantly enriched for known psychiatric medications or for therapies considered in clinical trials, supporting a role of GWAS in guiding drug discovery.

New techniques for visually stimulating and stabilizing the retina reveal that humans control covert attentional resources with high precision at the center of gaze. These findings show that fine attentional deployment occurs within the fovea and enhances high-acuity vision.

To what extent are population-level results an expected byproduct of simpler structure already known to exist in single neurons? Conventional controls are insufficient to perform this critical investigation. The authors developed a methodological framework to test the significance of population-level studies and apply it to prefrontal and motor cortices.

Antipsychotic treatment in patients with schizophrenia often reduces hallucinations and delusions, but cognitive deficits that impair performance of everyday activities may persist or worsen. Our findings reveal a mechanism by which increased NF-κB activity leads to increased HDAC2 levels, impairing synaptic plasticity and memory during prolonged antipsychotic treatment.

The authors address why the use of prior expectations might be compromised in autism, by using computational models and pupillometric markers of the neuromodulator noradrenaline. They show that by estimating the world to be more changeable than it really is, adults with autism have difficulty in learning what to expect.

Zika virus infection is associated with neurological disorders, yet few studies have directly examined its impact on the peripheral nervous system. Oh et al. show that Zika virus can infect peripheral neurons in the mouse in vivo, as well as human peripheral neurons in vitro, leading to increased cell death and transcriptional dysregulation.

Although the hippocampus has long been linked to planning, it has not been shown to be necessary for planning behavior. Using computational modeling and a new rat task that allows the quantification of planning behavior across many repeated trials, the authors report the first evidence that hippocampal inactivation impairs planning.