Neuroscience

Chemogenetic Manipulation of the Subthalamic Nucleus-Substantia Nigra Pars Reticulata Pathway Promotes Recovery in HemiParkinsonian Rat Models

1. Nassim Stegamat
2. Rupert Smit
3. Jacquelynn Rajavong
4. Thomas Campion
5. Sraavya Pinjala
6. George Smith

Reviewed by PREreview

Drift in Individual Behavioral Phenotype as a Strategy for Unpredictable Worlds

1. Ryan Maloney
2. Athena Ye
3. Sam-Keny Saint-Pre
4. Tom Alisch
5. David Zimmerman
6. Nicole Pittoors
7. Benjamin L de Bivort

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  Maloney et al. offer an important contribution to understanding the potential ecological mechanisms behind individual behavioral variation. By providing compelling theoretical and experimental data, the study bridges the gap between individual, apparently stochastic behavior with its evolutionary purpose and consequences. The work further provides a testable and generalizable model framework to explore behavioral drift in other behaviors.

Reviewed by eLife

Anesthesia Lowers Spatial Frequency Preference in the Primary Visual Cortex

1. Jiahao Wu
2. Taisuke Yoneda
3. Kallum Robinson
4. Naotsugu Tsuchiya
5. Yumiko Yoshimura

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This paper describes useful findings on the effects of isoflurane anesthesia on the visual cortical circuitry of the mouse. It provides solid evidence that the visual spatial frequency sensitivity becomes coarser (lower resolution) during anesthesia, with distinct effects described in excitatory neurons, and parvalbumin (PV) and somatostatin (SOM) positive interneurons. This study should be of interest to neuroscientists studying the mouse visual cortex and the effects of anesthesia on cortical circuitry.

Reviewed by eLife

Pupil size reveals the perceptual quality and effortless nature of synesthesia

1. Christoph Strauch
2. Casper Leenaars
3. Romke Rouw

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This study used pupillometry to provide an objective assessment of a form of synesthesia in which people see additional color when reading numbers. It provides convincing evidence that subjective color ratings are matched by changes in pupil size that recapitulate brightness-mediated changes when exposed to the real color. The work provides a valuable contribution to the literature on both synesthetic perception and the use of pupillometry to probe perception and related psychological processes.

Reviewed by eLife

Formation of Task Representations and Replay in Mouse Medial Prefrontal Cortex

1. Hamed Shabani
2. Hannah Muysers
3. Yuk-Hoi Yiu
4. Jonas-Frederic Sauer
5. Marlene Bartos
6. Christian Leibold

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This useful study characterizes the evolution of medial prefrontal cortex activity during the learning of an odor-based choice task. The evidence provided is solid, providing quantification of functional classes of cells over the course of learning using the longitudinal calcium recordings in prefrontal cortex, and quantification of prefrontal sequences. However, the experimental design appears to provide limited evidence to support strong conclusions regarding the functional relevance of neural sequences. The study will be of interest to neuroscientists investigating learning and decision-making processes.

Reviewed by eLife

Multiple Functions of Cerebello-Thalamic Neurons in Learning and Offline Consolidation of a Motor Skill in mice

1. Andres P Varani
2. Caroline Mailhes-Hamon
3. Romain W Sala
4. Marie Sarraudy
5. Sarah Fouda
6. Jimena L Frontera
7. Clément Léna
8. Daniela Popa

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  Varani et al present important findings regarding the role of distinct cerebellothalamic connections in motor learning and performance. The evidence supporting the main claims is convincing, with multiple replications, validation of their techniques, and appropriate controls. The work will be of broad interest to neuroscientists interested in central mechanisms of motor learning and control, as well as thalamic physiology.

Reviewed by eLife

Hugin-AstA circuitry is a novel central energy sensor that directly regulates sweet sensation in Drosophila and mouse

1. Wusa Qin
2. Tingting Song
3. Zeliang Lai
4. Daihan Li
5. Liming Wang
6. Rui Huang

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This important work by Qin et al. delineates layered neuropeptidergic mechanisms that regulate sugar intake in a hunger state-dependent manner. Using a combination of genetic, physiological, and behavioral experiments, the authors convincingly show that Hugin- and Allatostatin A-releasing neurons are selectively active in sated flies and suppress sugar feeding by reducing the sensitivity of Gr5a-expressing gustatory neurons. They further demonstrate that Neuromedin U neurons share key physiological properties with fly Hugin neurons, highlighting conserved peptide functions across animal phyla.

Reviewed by eLife

The dominance of large-scale phase dynamics in human cortex, from delta to gamma

1. David M Alexander
2. Laura Dugué

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This study introduces a novel method for estimating spatial spectra from irregularly sampled intracranial EEG data, revealing cortical activity across all spatial frequencies, which supports the global and integrated nature of cortical dynamics. It showcases important technical innovations and rigorous analyses, including tests to rule out potential confounds. However, further direct evaluation of the model, for example by using simulated cortical activity with a known spatial spectrum (e.g., an iEEG volume-conductor model that describes the mapping from cortical current source density to iEEG signals, and that incorporates the reference electrodes and the particular montage used), would even further strengthen the solid evidence.

Reviewed by eLife

Comprehensive Neural Representations of Naturalistic Stimuli through Multimodal Deep Learning

1. Mingxue Fu
2. Guoqiu Chen
3. Yijie Zhang
4. Mingzhe Zhang
5. Yin Wang

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This study presents a valuable application of a video-text alignment deep neural network model to improve neural encoding of naturalistic stimuli in fMRI. The authors provide convincing evidence that models based on multimodal and dynamic embedding features of audiovisual movies predicted brain responses better than models based on unimodal or static features. The work will be of interest to researchers in cognitive neuroscience and AI-based brain modeling.

Reviewed by eLife

Anterior cingulate cortex in complex associative learning: monitoring action state and action content

1. Wenqiang Huang
2. Arron F Hall
3. Natalia Kawalec
4. Ashley N Opalka
5. Jun Liu
6. Dong V Wang

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  Huang and colleagues examined neural responses in mouse anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) during a discrimination-avoidance task. The authors present useful findings that ACC neurons encode primarily post-action variables or "action content" over extended periods. Though the methodological approach was sound, the evidence in support of action state encoding, ruling out alternative explanations related to movement, is incomplete.

Reviewed by eLife