Cerebellum: The little learning brain
Nature Reviews Neuroscience 18, 263 (2017).
doi:10.1038/nrn.2017.47
Author: Natasha Bray
Two recent studies report changes in the activity of cerebellar granule cells during two different types of learning, providing insights into the function of these cells. (Source: Nature Reviews Neuroscience)
Source: Nature Reviews Neuroscience - April 6, 2017 Category: Neuroscience Authors: Natasha Bray Tags: Research Highlight Source Type: research
Towards a stronger science of human plasticity
Nature Reviews Neuroscience 18, 261 (2017).
doi:10.1038/nrn.2017.44
Authors: Ulman Lindenberger, Elisabeth Wenger & Martin Lövdén
People have been told that 'brain training' will make them not only better at playing certain games but smarter in general. However, evidence indicates that brain plasticity is specific to the acquired skill. The search for neural mechanisms of transfer of training-induced benefits needs to build on this evidence. (Source: Nature Reviews Neuroscience)
Source: Nature Reviews Neuroscience - April 6, 2017 Category: Neuroscience Authors: Ulman Lindenberger Elisabeth Wenger Martin L övdén Tags: Comment Source Type: research
Algorithms for survival: a comparative perspective on emotions
Nature Reviews Neuroscience 18, 311 (2017).
doi:10.1038/nrn.2017.35
Authors: Dominik R. Bach & Peter Dayan
The nature and neural implementation of emotions is the subject of vigorous debate. Here, we use Bayesian decision theory to address key complexities in this field and conceptualize emotions in terms of their relationship to survival-relevant behavioural choices. Decision theory indicates which behaviours are optimal (Source: Nature Reviews Neuroscience)
Source: Nature Reviews Neuroscience - March 31, 2017 Category: Neuroscience Authors: Dominik R. Bach Peter Dayan Tags: Perspectives Source Type: research
Not just amyloid: physiological functions of the amyloid precursor protein family
Nature Reviews Neuroscience 18, 281 (2017).
doi:10.1038/nrn.2017.29
Authors: Ulrike C. Müller, Thomas Deller & Martin Korte
Amyloid precursor protein (APP) gives rise to the amyloid-β peptide and thus has a key role in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer disease. By contrast, the physiological functions of APP and the closely related APP-like proteins (APLPs) remain less well understood. Studying these physiological functions has (Source: Nature Reviews Neuroscience)
Source: Nature Reviews Neuroscience - March 31, 2017 Category: Neuroscience Authors: Ulrike C. M üller Thomas Deller Martin Korte Tags: Review Source Type: research
Circadian rhythms: Astrocytes keep time
Nature Reviews Neuroscience 18, 264 (2017).
doi:10.1038/nrn.2017.43
Author: Katherine Whalley
Astrocytic–neuronal signalling in the dorsal suprachiasmatic nucleus is essential for the maintenance of circadian timekeeping. (Source: Nature Reviews Neuroscience)
Source: Nature Reviews Neuroscience - March 31, 2017 Category: Neuroscience Authors: Katherine Whalley Tags: Research Highlight Source Type: research
Motor compensation and its effects on neural reorganization after stroke
Nature Reviews Neuroscience 18, 267 (2017).
doi:10.1038/nrn.2017.26
Author: Theresa A. Jones
Stroke instigates a dynamic process of repair and remodelling of remaining neural circuits, and this process is shaped by behavioural experiences. The onset of motor disability simultaneously creates a powerful incentive to develop new, compensatory ways of performing daily activities. Compensatory movement strategies that are (Source: Nature Reviews Neuroscience)
Source: Nature Reviews Neuroscience - March 23, 2017 Category: Neuroscience Authors: Theresa A. Jones Tags: Review Source Type: research
Synaptic transmission: Changing the (potassium) channel?
Nature Reviews Neuroscience 18, 266 (2017).
doi:10.1038/nrn.2017.41
Author: Sian Lewis
The endocannabinoid 2-arachidonoylglycerol increases the tonic and evoked firing rate of mouse dopamine midbrain neurons by inhibiting A-type potassium currents through a direct lipid interaction with Kv4.3 channels. (Source: Nature Reviews Neuroscience)
Source: Nature Reviews Neuroscience - March 23, 2017 Category: Neuroscience Authors: Sian Lewis Tags: Research Highlight Source Type: research
Techniques: A two-step method to make microglia
Nature Reviews Neuroscience 18, 264 (2017).
doi:10.1038/nrn.2017.40
Author: Natasha Bray
A new study describes a method for differentiating human and murine induced pluripotent stem cells into microglia-like cells. (Source: Nature Reviews Neuroscience)
Source: Nature Reviews Neuroscience - March 23, 2017 Category: Neuroscience Authors: Natasha Bray Tags: Research Highlight Source Type: research
The two-century journey of Parkinson disease research
Nature Reviews Neuroscience 18, 251 (2017).
doi:10.1038/nrn.2017.25
Author: Serge Przedborski
Since the first formal description of Parkinson disease (PD) two centuries ago, our understanding of this common neurodegenerative disorder has expanded at all levels of description, from the delineation of its clinical phenotype to the identification of its neuropathological features, neurochemical processes and genetic factors. (Source: Nature Reviews Neuroscience)
Source: Nature Reviews Neuroscience - March 16, 2017 Category: Neuroscience Authors: Serge Przedborski Tags: Perspectives Source Type: research
NMDA receptors: linking physiological output to biophysical operation
Nature Reviews Neuroscience 18, 236 (2017).
doi:10.1038/nrn.2017.24
Authors: Gary J. Iacobucci & Gabriela K. Popescu
NMDA receptors are preeminent neurotransmitter-gated channels in the CNS, which respond to glutamate in a manner that integrates multiple external and internal cues. They belong to the ionotropic glutamate receptor family and fulfil unique and crucial roles in neuronal development and function. These roles depend (Source: Nature Reviews Neuroscience)
Source: Nature Reviews Neuroscience - March 16, 2017 Category: Neuroscience Authors: Gary J. Iacobucci Gabriela K. Popescu Tags: Review Source Type: research
Integration of optogenetics with complementary methodologies in systems neuroscience
Nature Reviews Neuroscience 18, 222 (2017).
doi:10.1038/nrn.2017.15
Authors: Christina K. Kim, Avishek Adhikari & Karl Deisseroth
Modern optogenetics can be tuned to evoke activity that corresponds to naturally occurring local or global activity in timing, magnitude or individual-cell patterning. This outcome has been facilitated not only by the development of core features of optogenetics over the past 10 years (microbial-opsin variants, (Source: Nature Reviews Neuroscience)
Source: Nature Reviews Neuroscience - March 16, 2017 Category: Neuroscience Authors: Christina K. Kim Avishek Adhikari Karl Deisseroth Tags: Review Source Type: research
Neurodegenerative disease: A chimeric approach
Nature Reviews Neuroscience 18, 193 (2017).
doi:10.1038/nrn.2017.38
Author: Darran Yates
In a new, chimeric model of Alzheimer disease (AD), in which human neurons were transplanted into an AD mouse model, amyloid-β-related pathology was associated with robust degeneration of the human neurons but no neurofibrillary tangle formation. (Source: Nature Reviews Neuroscience)
Source: Nature Reviews Neuroscience - March 16, 2017 Category: Neuroscience Authors: Darran Yates Tags: Research Highlight Source Type: research
Learning and memory: Remembering where not to go
Nature Reviews Neuroscience 18, 195 (2017).
doi:10.1038/nrn.2017.37
Author: Natasha Bray
In rats, CA1 place cells that encode the location of an aversive experience are reactivated during retrieval of the memory of that event. (Source: Nature Reviews Neuroscience)
Source: Nature Reviews Neuroscience - March 8, 2017 Category: Neuroscience Authors: Natasha Bray Tags: Research Highlight Source Type: research
Operation and plasticity of hippocampal CA3 circuits: implications for memory encoding
Nature Reviews Neuroscience 18, 208 (2017).
doi:10.1038/nrn.2017.10
Authors: Nelson Rebola, Mario Carta & Christophe Mulle
The CA3 region of the hippocampus is important for rapid encoding of memory. Computational theories have proposed specific roles in hippocampal function and memory for the sparse inputs from the dentate gyrus to CA3 and for the extended local recurrent connectivity that gives rise to (Source: Nature Reviews Neuroscience)
Source: Nature Reviews Neuroscience - March 1, 2017 Category: Neuroscience Authors: Nelson Rebola Mario Carta Christophe Mulle Tags: Review Source Type: research
Sense of agency in the human brain
Nature Reviews Neuroscience 18, 196 (2017).
doi:10.1038/nrn.2017.14
Author: Patrick Haggard
In adult life, people normally know what they are doing. This experience of controlling one's own actions and, through them, the course of events in the outside world is called 'sense of agency'. It forms a central feature of human experience; however, the brain mechanisms (Source: Nature Reviews Neuroscience)
Source: Nature Reviews Neuroscience - March 1, 2017 Category: Neuroscience Authors: Patrick Haggard Tags: Review Source Type: research
