Ventral tegmental area: cellular heterogeneity, connectivity and behaviour
Nature Reviews Neuroscience 18, 73 (2017).
doi:10.1038/nrn.2016.165
Authors: Marisela Morales & Elyssa B. Margolis
Dopamine-releasing neurons of the ventral tegmental area (VTA) have central roles in reward-related and goal-directed behaviours. VTA dopamine-releasing neurons are heterogeneous in their afferent and efferent connectivity and, in some cases, release GABA or glutamate in addition to dopamine. Recent findings show that motivational signals (Source: Nature Reviews Neuroscience)
Source: Nature Reviews Neuroscience - January 4, 2017 Category: Neuroscience Authors: Marisela Morales Elyssa B. Margolis Tags: Review Source Type: research
Neural development: Relaying control of neuronal identity
Nature Reviews Neuroscience 18, 70 (2017).
doi:10.1038/nrn.2016.185
Author: Katherine Whalley
The stage-specific regulation of sets of enhancers by the 'programming' transcription factor islet 1 regulates the transcription of effector genes during motor neuron differentiation. (Source: Nature Reviews Neuroscience)
Source: Nature Reviews Neuroscience - January 4, 2017 Category: Neuroscience Authors: Katherine Whalley Tags: Research Highlight Source Type: research
Neurodevelopmental disorders: Converging on autism spectrum disorder
Nature Reviews Neuroscience 18, 67 (2017).
doi:10.1038/nrn.2016.184
Author: Natasha Bray
A characterization of transcriptomic changes in autism spectrum disorder points to shared cortical alterations that result in profound changes in neuronal gene transcription, long non-coding RNA transcription, cortical patterning and glial function. (Source: Nature Reviews Neuroscience)
Source: Nature Reviews Neuroscience - January 4, 2017 Category: Neuroscience Authors: Natasha Bray Tags: Research Highlight Source Type: research
Closed-loop brain training: the science of neurofeedback
Nature Reviews Neuroscience 18, 86 (2017).
doi:10.1038/nrn.2016.164
Authors: Ranganatha Sitaram, Tomas Ros, Luke Stoeckel, Sven Haller, Frank Scharnowski, Jarrod Lewis-Peacock, Nikolaus Weiskopf, Maria Laura Blefari, Mohit Rana, Ethan Oblak, Niels Birbaumer & James Sulzer
Neurofeedback is a psychophysiological procedure in which online feedback of neural activation is provided to the participant for the purpose of self-regulation. Learning control over specific neural substrates has been shown to change specific behaviours. As a progenitor of brain–machine interfaces, neurofeedback has provided a (Source:...
Source: Nature Reviews Neuroscience - December 21, 2016 Category: Neuroscience Authors: Ranganatha Sitaram Tomas Ros Luke Stoeckel Sven Haller Frank Scharnowski Jarrod Lewis-Peacock Nikolaus Weiskopf Maria Laura Blefari Mohit Rana Ethan Oblak Niels Birbaumer James Sulzer Tags: Review Source Type: research
Sensory systems: Smelling trouble
Nature Reviews Neuroscience 18, 69 (2017).
doi:10.1038/nrn.2016.180
Author: Sian Lewis
It is not known how mammals sense potentially life-threatening reductions in oxygen in the ambient air, but a novel mechanism has been found in mice that involves a novel subpopulation of olfactory sensory neurons that express the soluble guanylate cyclase GUCY1β2. (Source: Nature Reviews Neuroscience)
Source: Nature Reviews Neuroscience - December 21, 2016 Category: Neuroscience Authors: Sian Lewis Tags: Research Highlight Source Type: research
Learning and memory: Working out working memory
Nature Reviews Neuroscience 18, 68 (2017).
doi:10.1038/nrn.2016.181
Author: Natasha Bray
Unattended information can lie latent in working memory and then be reactivated by transcranial magnetic stimulation. (Source: Nature Reviews Neuroscience)
Source: Nature Reviews Neuroscience - December 21, 2016 Category: Neuroscience Authors: Natasha Bray Tags: Research Highlight Source Type: research
Neurodevelopmental disorders: A painful role for SHANK3
Nature Reviews Neuroscience 18, 68 (2017).
doi:10.1038/nrn.2016.179
Author: Katherine Whalley
Shank3 deficiency disrupts TRPV1 signalling, pain processing and the induction of heat hyperalgesia in mice. (Source: Nature Reviews Neuroscience)
Source: Nature Reviews Neuroscience - December 21, 2016 Category: Neuroscience Authors: Katherine Whalley Tags: Research Highlight Source Type: research
Towards a mechanistic understanding of the human subcortex
Nature Reviews Neuroscience 18, 57 (2017).
doi:10.1038/nrn.2016.163
Authors: Birte U. Forstmann, Gilles de Hollander, Leendert van Maanen, Anneke Alkemade & Max C. Keuken
The human subcortex is a densely populated part of the brain, of which only 7% of the individual structures are depicted in standard MRI atlases. In vivo MRI of the subcortex is challenging owing to its anatomical complexity and its deep location in the (Source: Nature Reviews Neuroscience)
Source: Nature Reviews Neuroscience - December 14, 2016 Category: Neuroscience Authors: Birte U. Forstmann Gilles de Hollander Leendert van Maanen Anneke Alkemade Max C. Keuken Tags: Perspectives Source Type: research
Structural plasticity and reorganisation in chronic pain
Nature Reviews Neuroscience 18, 20 (2017).
doi:10.1038/nrn.2016.162
Authors: Rohini Kuner & Herta Flor
Chronic pain is not simply a temporal continuum of acute pain. Studies on functional plasticity in neural circuits of pain have provided mechanistic insights and linked various modulatory factors to a change in perception and behaviour. However, plasticity also occurs in the context of structural (Source: Nature Reviews Neuroscience)
Source: Nature Reviews Neuroscience - December 14, 2016 Category: Neuroscience Authors: Rohini Kuner Herta Flor Tags: Review Source Type: research
Perception: Coding for choice
Nature Reviews Neuroscience 18, 5 (2017).
doi:10.1038/nrn.2016.177
Author: Katherine Whalley
The mechanisms by which sensory representations are transformed to enable perception and decision making are unknown. Rossi-Pool et al. recorded from neurons in the cortex of monkeys performing a task that required them to decide whether pairs of vibrotactile stimulus patterns were the same (Source: Nature Reviews Neuroscience)
Source: Nature Reviews Neuroscience - December 14, 2016 Category: Neuroscience Authors: Katherine Whalley Tags: Research Highlight Source Type: research
Synaptic transmission: Separating transmission modes
Nature Reviews Neuroscience 18, 5 (2017).
doi:10.1038/nrn.2016.176
Author: Katherine Whalley
The extent to which spontaneous and evoked neurotransmission are spatially segregated within a synapse is unclear. Using a fluorescent calcium indicator to visualize activity in individual synapses, the authors found that most synapses in dissociated hippocampal cultures exhibit both spontaneous and evoked neurotransmission; however, unique (Source: Nature Reviews Neuroscience)
Source: Nature Reviews Neuroscience - December 14, 2016 Category: Neuroscience Authors: Katherine Whalley Tags: Research Highlight Source Type: research
Metabolism: A rapid satiety circuit
Nature Reviews Neuroscience 18, 5 (2017).
doi:10.1038/nrn.2016.175
Author: Katherine Whalley
Current models of hypothalamic function cannot account for the rapid induction of satiety: activation of arcuate nucleus pro-opiomelanocortin (POMC)-expressing neurons (ARCPOMC neurons) only reduces hunger after several hours. The authors showed that manipulation of a population of glutamatergic ARC neurons rapidly alters feeding (Source: Nature Reviews Neuroscience)
Source: Nature Reviews Neuroscience - December 14, 2016 Category: Neuroscience Authors: Katherine Whalley Tags: Research Highlight Source Type: research
Neurodegenerative disease: Probing prions
Nature Reviews Neuroscience 18, 5 (2017).
doi:10.1038/nrn.2016.174
Author: Katherine Whalley
It has been hypothesized that the spread of misfolded proteins underlies patterns of neurodegeneration. Using a highly sensitive detection method, Alibhai et al. observed widespread early distribution of prion protein 'seeds' in a mouse model of prion disease but no correlation between the regions (Source: Nature Reviews Neuroscience)
Source: Nature Reviews Neuroscience - December 14, 2016 Category: Neuroscience Authors: Katherine Whalley Tags: Research Highlight Source Type: research
Glia: An astrocytic influence
Nature Reviews Neuroscience 18, 4 (2017).
doi:10.1038/nrn.2016.173
Author: Darran Yates
How astrocytic Ca2+ signalling interacts with neural activity in vivo and affects behaviour is not well understood. A new study in Drosophila melanogaster found that astrocytic knockdown of a transient receptor potential cation channel inhibited somatic astrocytic Ca2+ transients (Source: Nature Reviews Neuroscience)
Source: Nature Reviews Neuroscience - December 14, 2016 Category: Neuroscience Authors: Darran Yates Tags: Research Highlight Source Type: research
Cell biology of the neuron: Endocytic mediators
Nature Reviews Neuroscience 18, 4 (2017).
doi:10.1038/nrn.2016.172
Author: Darran Yates
Whether actin has a role in endocytosis in mammalian cells is unclear. Wu et al. showed that, in mice, knockout of the β-actin gene or γ-actin gene impaired various types of endocytosis in calyx-type and hippocampal synapses. The deficits observed in hippocampal boutons could (Source: Nature Reviews Neuroscience)
Source: Nature Reviews Neuroscience - December 14, 2016 Category: Neuroscience Authors: Darran Yates Tags: Research Highlight Source Type: research
