Neuroscience

Cortical beta oscillations map to shared brain networks modulated by dopamine

1. Meera Chikermane
2. Liz Weerdmeester
3. Nanditha Rajamani
4. Richard M Köhler
5. Timon Merk
6. Jojo Vanhoecke
7. Andreas Horn
8. Wolf Julian Neumann

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This study poses an important step forward in understanding the brain-network embedding of beta oscillations. The study advances our circuit-level understanding of the pathophysiology associated with dopaminergic alterations in psychiatric or neurological disorders. The study provides compelling evidence that beta oscillations across the neocortex and basal ganglia map onto shared functional and structural networks that show significant positive correlations with dopamine receptors.

Reviewed by eLife

A statistical framework for analysis of trial-level temporal dynamics in fiber photometry experiments

1. Gabriel Loewinger
2. Erjia Cui
3. David Lovinger
4. Francisco Pereira

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This important study presents a statistical framework for the analysis of photometry signals and provides an open-source implementation. The evidence supporting the benefits of the presented functional mixed-effect modeling analysis as opposed to 1) summary statistics and 2) other pointwise regression models is convincing with a thorough comparison with other methods and datasets. This work will be of great interest to researchers using not only fiber photometry, but other time-series data such as calcium imaging or electrophysiology data, and wanting to implement trial-by-trial temporal analysis, taking also into account variability within the dataset.

Reviewed by eLife

Mitochondrial calcium modulates odor-mediated behavioral plasticity in C. elegans

1. Hee Kyung Lee
2. Dong-Kyu Joo
3. Kyu-Sang Park
4. Kyoung-hye Yoon

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This study presents important findings that will allow for a better understanding of the role of mitochondria in behaviours of C. elegans. There is convincing evidence that mutants in a subunit of the mitochondrial calcium uniporter (MCU-1) show defects in olfactory adaptation and this gene regulates neuropeptide secretion and allows for behavioural modulation in C. elegans. However, the evidence that mitochondrial calcium modulates odour-based behaviour in C. elegans is incomplete. This claim would require support from calcium imaging in conditioned WT and mcu-1 animals. This work would be of interest to labs working on behaviours across phyla.

Reviewed by eLife

Characterizing the Spatial Distribution of Dendritic RNA at Single Molecule Resolution

1. Jihoon Kim
2. Jean G Rosario
3. Eric Mendoza
4. Da Kuang
5. Junhyong Kim

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This useful study combines multiplexed RNA-FISH with downstream analyses and modelling to describe novel dendritic mRNA distribution and behavioural features. Although the downstream analysis pipeline is novel, the results from this study are as of yet incomplete. Further inclusion of key missing controls, further work to better assess the physiological relevance, or additional modelling to expand their conclusions would make this work of greater interest to RNA biologists.

Reviewed by eLife

Engineering Microglial Cells to Promote Spinal Cord Injury Recovery

1. Qingsheng Zhou
2. Jianchao Liu
3. Qiongxuan Fang
4. Chunming Zhang
5. Wei Liu
6. Yifeng Sun

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  The study is useful for advancing understanding of spinal cord injuries, but it presents inadequate evidence due to the use of multiple datasets. Data were collected from different models of spinal cord injury, various regions of the spinal cord, and an iPSC model, with the differences between these models making it difficult to draw reliable conclusions.

Reviewed by eLife

Unveiling the functional connectivity of astrocytic networks with AstroNet, a graph reconstruction algorithm coupled to image processing

1. L. Zonca
2. F. C. Bellier
3. G. Milior
4. P. Aymard
5. J. Visser
6. A. Rancillac
7. N. Rouach
8. D. Holcman

Reviewed by Arcadia Science

Parabrachial CGRP neurons modulate active defensive behavior under a naturalistic threat

1. Gyeong Hee Pyeon
2. Hyewon Cho
3. Byung Min Chung
4. June-Seek Choi
5. Yong Sang Jo

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This important work advances our understanding of parabrachial CGRP threat function. The evidence supporting CGRP aversive outcome signaling is solid, while the evidence for cue signaling and fear behavior generation is incomplete. The work will be of interest to neuroscientists studying defensive behaviors.

Reviewed by eLife

Error prediction determines the coordinate system used for the representation of novel dynamics

1. Raz Leib
2. David Franklin

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This study provides a valuable new perspective on how motor learning occurring in one state generalizes to new states (for example, a different limb posture). The proposed model improves upon previous theories in its ability to predict patterns of generalization, but evidence supporting this specific proposed model over possible alternatives is incomplete. The newly proposed theory appears promising but would be more convincing if its conceptual and theoretical basis were clearer and more rigorously derived.

Reviewed by eLife

Key epigenetic and signaling factors in the formation and maintenance of the blood-brain barrier

1. Jayanarayanan Sadanandan
2. Sithara Thomas
3. Iny Elizabeth Mathew
4. Zhen Huang
5. Spiros L Blackburn
6. Nitin Tandon
7. Hrishikesh Lokhande
8. Pierre D McCrea
9. Emery H Bresnick
10. Pramod K Dash
11. Devin W McBride
12. Arif Harmanci
13. Lalit K Ahirwar
14. Dania Jose
15. Ari C Dienel
16. Hussein A Zeineddine
17. Sungha Hong
18. Peeyush Kumar T

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  The specific questions taken up for study by the authors-in mice of HDAC and Polycomb function in the context of vascular endothelial cell (EC) gene expression relevant to the blood-brain barrier, (BBB)-are potentially useful in the context of vascular diversification in understanding and remedying situations where BBB function is compromised. The strength of the evidence presented is incomplete, and to elaborate, it is known that the culturing of endothelial cells can have a strong effect on gene expression.

Reviewed by eLife

Muscarinic receptors mediate motivation via preparatory neural activity in humans

1. John P Grogan
2. Matthias Raemaekers
3. Maaike MH van Swieten
4. Alexander L Green
5. Martin J Gillies
6. Sanjay G Manohar

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  The authors have reported an important study in which they use a double-blind design to explore pharmacological manipulations in the context of a behavioral task. While the sample size is small, the use of varied methodology, including electrophysiology, behavior, and pharmacology, makes this manuscript particularly notable. Overall, the findings are solid and motivate future explanations into the relationships between acetylcholine and motivation.

Reviewed by eLife