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The translation of translational control by FMRP: therapeutic targets for FXS

Jennifer C Darnell — 2013-04-14

In this review, the authors discuss the function of fragile X mental retardation protein (FMRP) in regulating the synthesis of plasticity-related target proteins. The authors review the known mRNA targets of FMRP and discuss the potential therapeutic implications of this research.

Convergent cortical innervation of striatal projection neurons

Geraldine J Kress — 2013-05-12

Nature Neuroscience. doi:10.1038/nn.3397

Authors: Geraldine J Kress, Naoki Yamawaki, David L Wokosin, Ian R Wickersham, Gordon M G Shepherd & D James Surmeier

Anatomical studies have led to the assertion that intratelencephalic and pyramidal tract cortical neurons innervate different striatal projection neurons. To test this hypothesis, we measured the responses of mouse striatal neurons to optogenetic activation of intratelencephalic and pyramidal tract axons. Contrary to expectation, direct and indirect pathway striatal spiny projection neurons responded to both intratelencephalic and pyramidal tract activation, arguing that these cortical networks innervate both striatal projection neurons.

A functional and perceptual signature of the second visual area in primates

Jeremy Freeman — 2013-05-19

The authors examined neuronal responses in V1 and V2 to synthetic texture stimuli that replicate higher-order statistical dependencies found in natural images. V2, but not V1, responded differentially to these textures, in both macaque (single neurons) and human (fMRI). Human detection of naturalistic structure in the same images was predicted by V2 responses, suggesting a role for V2 in representing natural image structure.

Olfactory cortical neurons read out a relative time code in the olfactory bulb

Rafi Haddad — 2013-05-19

Nature Neuroscience. doi:10.1038/nn.3407

Authors: Rafi Haddad, Anne Lanjuin, Linda Madisen, Hongkui Zeng, Venkatesh N Murthy & Naoshige Uchida

Interhemispheric asymmetry of olfactory input-dependent neuronal specification in the adult brain

Norihito Kishimoto — 2013-05-19

Nature Neuroscience. doi:10.1038/nn.3409

Authors: Norihito Kishimoto, Kazuhide Asakawa, Romain Madelaine, Patrick Blader, Koichi Kawakami & Kazunobu Sawamoto

Synaptic mechanisms of adaptation and sensitization in the retina

Anton Nikolaev — 2013-05-19

Imaging calcium and vesicular release from thousands of synapses during contrast adaptation, Nikolaev and colleagues reveal the stratified organization of depressing and facilitating bipolar cells terminals in the zebrafish retina. The study also offers some insights into the cellular and circuit mechanisms of bidirectional gain modulation in this sensory system.

Activity-dependent silencing reveals functionally distinct itch-generating sensory neurons

David P Roberson — 2013-05-19

Nature Neuroscience. doi:10.1038/nn.3404

Authors: David P Roberson, Sagi Gudes, Jared M Sprague, Haley A W Patoski, Victoria K Robson, Felix Blasl, Bo Duan, Seog Bae Oh, Bruce P Bean, Qiufu Ma, Alexander M Binshtok & Clifford J Woolf

Overexpression of Down syndrome cell adhesion molecule impairs precise synaptic targeting

Vedrana Cvetkovska — 2013-05-12

In this study, the authors show that Dscam, a gene that has been implicated in Down syndrome, is targeted by the translation suppressor and Fragile X–linked protein FMRP. Loss of FMRP or overexpression of Dscam in Drosophila led to synaptic targeting errors and an impairment in perception of mechanical stimuli.

Responses of pulvinar neurons reflect a subject's confidence in visual categorization

Yutaka Komura — 2013-05-12

Here the authors report evidence for the neural correlates of confidence in the primate pulvinar, a visual thalamic nucleus. Data from electrophysiological recordings, functional silencing and theoretical modeling indicate that pulvinar activity encodes a subject's certainty of visual categorization and contributes to perceptual confidence, which potentially underlies visual awareness.

Selective and graded coding of reward uncertainty by neurons in the primate anterodorsal septal region

Ilya E Monosov — 2013-05-12

Making informed decisions requires taking into account how reliably choices produce expected outcomes. This study shows that primate anterodorsal septal neurons encode an uncertainty signal sensitive to reward size but do not carry information about the uncertainty of punishments.

GABA progenitors grafted into the adult epileptic brain control seizures and abnormal behavior

Robert F Hunt — 2013-05-05

In this study, the authors show that MGE-derived interneuron progenitors, when engrafted into the adult hippocampus, can migrate long distances and functionally integrate into the host tissue. In addition, if these cells are engrafted into the brain after the initiation of epilepsy, seizure frequency and behavioral deficits are reduced.

Sublinear integration underlies binocular processing in primary visual cortex

Fabio Longordo — 2013-05-05

Temporal and spatial integration of synaptic inputs onto dendrites can display linear, sublinear and supralinear motifs in vitro. A study now examines this issue in vivo in mouse binocular visual cortex. It shows that dendritic integration of binocular information is sublinear, leading to a divisive form of gain control that linearizes the output of binocular neurons and enhances orientation selectivity.

Nectin-3 links CRHR1 signaling to stress-induced memory deficits and spine loss

Xiao-Dong Wang — 2013-05-05

Early-life stress, acting through corticotrophin-releasing hormone (CRH) and its receptor CRHR1, can have long-lasting effects on animals' behavior. Nectin-3 is a cell adhesion molecule whose heterodimeric interaction with presynaptic nectin-1 organizes the postsynaptic afadin–actin–N-cadherin complex to shape synaptic structure and function. Here, the authors show that structural synaptic adaptation and cognitive dysfunction in adulthood following early-life stress are dependent on CRH signaling acting through Nectin-3.

Object tracking in motion-blind flies

Armin Bahl — 2013-04-28

In response to the movement of its visual world, Drosophila is capable of optomotor response in head and body turning, as well as a visual fixation response. This study shows that blocking the visual pathway activity responsible for optokinetic response in flies does not affect the visual fixation response, suggesting two distinct pathways for processing each set of information. By doing so, the authors also devised a neural and behavioral hierarchy in fly visual system where fixation behavior and the neurons mediating fixation response are upstream of optokinetic response as performed by lobula plate neurons.

Oligodendrocyte progenitors balance growth with self-repulsion to achieve homeostasis in the adult brain

Ethan G Hughes — 2013-04-28

Nature Neuroscience. doi:10.1038/nn.3390

Authors: Ethan G Hughes, Shin H Kang, Masahiro Fukaya & Dwight E Bergles

Circadian glucocorticoid oscillations promote learning-dependent synapse formation and maintenance

Conor Liston — 2013-04-28

Long-term exposure to glucocorticoids following chronic stress is detrimental to cognitive processes including learning and memory. Even so, short term glucocorticoid surges can facilitate cognition. Here the authors show that the circadian oscillation in circulating glucocorticoids is important for motor skill learning–induced dendritic spine remodeling. They also show that circadian glucocorticoid-mediated synaptic modification acts through non-transcriptional mechanism involving cytoskeleton remodeling and correlates with long-term memory retention.

Meigo governs dendrite targeting specificity by modulating Ephrin level and N-glycosylation

Sayaka U Sekine — 2013-04-28

Nature Neuroscience. doi:10.1038/nn.3389

Authors: Sayaka U Sekine, Shuka Haraguchi, Kinhong Chao, Tomoko Kato, Liqun Luo, Masayuki Miura & Takahiro Chihara

Adaptation maintains population homeostasis in primary visual cortex

Andrea Benucci — 2013-04-21

In primary visual cortex (V1), adaptation controls the responsiveness of individual neurons and shifts their visual selectivity. Here the authors examine adaptation at the population level. They conclude that adaptation in V1 acts as a mechanism of homeostasis, enforcing a tendency towards equality and independence in neural activity across the population.

Segregation of cortical head direction cell assemblies on alternating theta cycles

Mark P Brandon — 2013-04-21

Prevailing models have suggested that grid cell firing in the entorhinal cortex for spatial navigation relies on theta rhythmic inputs from head direction cells. Here, the authors show how head direction cells can skip theta cycles in a regular and organized manner in which two head direction cells will alternate theta skipping in opposing cycles. This so-called theta skipping is dependent on the input from the septum, and these results propose a possible mechanism of spatial computation.

Attention during natural vision warps semantic representation across the human brain

Tolga Çukur — 2013-04-21

The authors use functional magnetic resonance imaging to measure how the semantic representation changes when searching for different object categories in natural movies. They find tuning shifts that expand the representation of the attended category and of semantically related, but unattended, categories, and compress the representation of categories semantically dissimilar to the target.