Neuroscience

Revealing intact neuronal circuitry in centimeter-sized formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded brain

1. Ya-Hui Lin
2. Li-Wen Wang
3. Yen-Hui Chen
4. Yi-Chieh Chan
5. Shang-Hsiu Hu
6. Sheng-Yan Wu
7. Chi-Shiun Chiang
8. Guan-Jie Huang
9. Shang-Da Yang
10. Shi-Wei Chu
11. Kuo-Chuan Wang
12. Chin-Hsien Lin
13. Pei-Hsin Huang
14. Hwai-Jong Cheng
15. Bi-Chang Chen
16. Li-An Chu

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  The reprocessing and reanalysis of archived samples can yield further insights from past experiments. Here, a useful procedure to perform tissue clearing and immunolabeling on large-scale formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded brain specimens is convincingly evaluated on a set of archival pathology specimens, and its applicability to further such samples is analyzed. This method will be of interest to both neuroscientists and pathologists.

Reviewed by eLife

Glutamatergic supramammillary nucleus neurons respond to threatening stressors and promote active coping

1. Abraham Escobedo
2. Salli-Ann Holloway
3. Megan Votoupal
4. Aaron L Cone
5. Hannah Skelton
6. Alex A Legaria
7. Imeh Ndiokho
8. Tasheia Floyd
9. Alexxai V Kravitz
10. Michael R Bruchas
11. Aaron J Norris

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This important manuscript investigates the role of a subpopulation of glutamatergic neurons in the suprammamillary nucleus that projects to the pre-optic hypothalamus area in active coping but not locomotor activity. They provide solid evidence from experiments using fibre photometry or photostimulation during threatening tasks that these neurons allow animals to produce flexible behaviours in response to stress. This work will be of interest to behavioural and systems neuroscientists.

Reviewed by eLife

Homeostatic regulation of rapid eye movement sleep by the preoptic area of the hypothalamus

1. John J Maurer
2. Alexandra Lin
3. Xi Jin
4. Jiso Hong
5. Nicholas Sathi
6. Romain Cardis
7. Alejandro Osorio-Forero
8. Anita Lüthi
9. Franz Weber
10. Shinjae Chung

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This valuable study advances our understanding of the brain nuclei involved in rapid-eye movement (REM) sleep regulation. Using a combination of imaging, electrophysiology, and optogenetic tools, the study provides convincing evidence that inhibitory neurons in the preoptic area of the hypothalamus influence REM sleep. This work will be of interest to neurobiologists working on the brain circuits of sleep.

Reviewed by eLife

Aberrant hippocampal Ca2+ microwaves following synapsin-dependent adeno-associated viral expression of Ca2+ indicators

1. Nicola Masala
2. Manuel Mittag
3. Eleonora Ambrad Giovannetti
4. Darik A O'Neil
5. Fabian J Distler
6. Peter Rupprecht
7. Fritjof Helmchen
8. Rafael Yuste
9. Martin Fuhrmann
10. Heinz Beck
11. Michael Wenzel
12. Tony Kelly

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This important study provides convincing evidence of artifactual calcium micro-waves during calcium imaging of populations of neurons in the hippocampus using methods that are common in the field. The work raises awareness of these artifacts so that any research labs planning to do calcium imaging in the hippocampus can avoid them by using alternative strategies that the authors propose.

Reviewed by eLife

Aberrant cortical activity, functional connectivity, and neural assembly architecture after photothrombotic stroke in mice

1. Mischa Vance Bandet
2. Ian Robert Winship

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This important study sheds light on several apparent discrepancies observed across animal studies examining neuroimaging biomarkers of functional recovery following focal ischemia. Using 2-photon imaging of calcium activity in awake mice, the authors show compelling evidence that deficits in neuronal activity and functional connectivity after photothrombosis occur within a very small distance from the infarct (<750 microns) whereas these measures were relatively unaltered more distally, even those typically implicated with functional remapping of the forelimb representation in anaesthetized animals. These findings reveal a complex spatiotemporal relationship between perilesional neuronal network function and behavioral recovery that is more nuanced than previously reported, and motivates the need for better criteria for what is considered remapping.

Reviewed by eLife

Dueling Endogenous Viral-Like Sequences Control Synaptic Plasticity

1. P. Githure M’Angale
2. Adrienne Lemieux
3. Yumeng Liu
4. Jasmine Graslie
5. Shuhao Wang
6. Alfred Simkin
7. Vivian Budnik
8. Brian A. Kelch
9. Travis Thomson

Reviewed by Arcadia Science

Mu opioid receptors gate the locus coeruleus pain generator

1. Makenzie R. Norris
2. Chao-Cheng Kuo
3. Samantha S. Dunn
4. Jenny R. Kim
5. Léa J. Becker
6. Gustavo Borges
7. Loc V. Thang
8. Kyle E. Parker
9. Jordan G. McCall

Reviewed by Arcadia Science

Perceptual learning improves discrimination while distorting appearance

1. Sarit F.A. Szpiro
2. Charlie S. Burlingham
3. Eero P. Simoncelli
4. Marisa Carrasco

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This work presents a potentially important behavioral finding: that perceptual learning may not only improve but also distort the appearance of visual stimuli. The strength of the presented evidence in support of the main claim is however incomplete, and requires further analyses to confirm that perceptual learning does increase overestimation bias, and clarify why a very large baseline overestimation bias is present in the data.

Reviewed by eLife

Octopamine integrates the status of internal energy supply into the formation of food-related memories

1. Michael Berger
2. Michèle Fraatz
3. Katrin Auweiler
4. Katharina Dorn
5. Tanna El Khadrawe
6. Henrike Scholz

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This important study dissects the role of octopamine in the interplay between internal energy homeostasis, food intake and food-related memories. The solid experimental evidence will shed additional light on previously published work and should be of interest to the growing community of biologists interested in how internal state shapes behavior, including decision making processes, learning and memory.

Reviewed by eLife

Endogenous oscillatory rhythms and interactive contingencies jointly influence infant attention during early infant-caregiver interaction

1. Emily AM Phillips
2. Louise Goupil
3. Megan Whitehorn
4. Emma Bruce-Gardyne
5. Florian A Csolsim
6. Navsheen Kaur
7. Emily Greenwood
8. Ira Marriott Haresign
9. Sam V Wass

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This study reports important evidence that infants' internal factors guide children's attention, and that caregivers respond to infants' attentional shifts during caregiver-infant interactions. The authors analyzed EEG data and multiple types of behaviors using solid methodologies that can guide future studies of neural responses during social interaction in infants.

Reviewed by eLife