Neuroscience

Sensory-memory interactions via modular structure explain errors in visual working memory

1. Jun Yang
2. Hanqi Zhang
3. Sukbin Lim

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This important computational study provides new insights into how neural dynamics may lead to time-evolving behavioral errors as observed in certain working-memory tasks. By combining ideas from efficient coding and attractor neural networks, the authors construct a two-module network model to capture the sensory-memory interactions and the distributed nature of working memory representations. They provide convincing evidence supporting that their two-module network, although none of the alternative circuit structures they considered can account for error patterns reported in orientation-estimation tasks with delays.

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A neurotransmitter atlas of C. elegans males and hermaphrodites

1. Chen Wang
2. Berta Vidal
3. Surojit Sural
4. Curtis Loer
5. G Robert Aguilar
6. Daniel M Merritt
7. Itai Antoine Toker
8. Merly C Vogt
9. Cyril C Cros
10. Oliver Hobert

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This fundamental study reports the most comprehensive neurotransmitter atlas of any organism to date, using fluorescent knock-in reporter lines. The work is comprehensive, rigorous, and compelling. The tool will be used by broad audience of scientists interested in neuronal cell type differentiation and function, and could be a seminal reference in the field.

Reviewed by eLife

AVN: A Deep Learning Approach for the Analysis of Birdsong

1. Therese MI Koch
2. Ethan S Marks
3. Todd F Roberts

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This work introduces a Python package, Avian Vocalization Analysis (AVN) that provides several key analysis pipelines for segmentation, annotation, and visualization of zebra finch song. AVN can be used to predict the stage of song development, quantify acoustic similarity, and detect abnormalities associated with deprived auditory feedback or social isolation. The methods are solid and are likely to provide a useful tool for scientists aiming to automate the analysis of large datasets of zebra finch vocalizations.

Reviewed by eLife

A unifying account of replay as context-driven memory reactivation

1. Zhenglong Zhou
2. Michael J Kahana
3. Anna C Schapiro

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  Zhou et al. introduce cascading neural activations, known as 'replay', into a context-maintenance and retrieval model (CMR) that has been previously used to capture a range of memory phenomena. The proposed 'CMR-replay' model outperforms its CMR predecessor in a compelling way, and thus, the work makes important strides towards understanding the empirical memory literature as well as some of the cognitive functions of replay. Notable limitations include the scope of the model with respect to established aspects of memory consolidation, such as the stages and physiology of sleep, and the lack of integration with highly relevant associative and deep learning theories.

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Transcriptional responses in a mouse model of silicone wire embolization induced acute retinal artery ischemia and reperfusion

1. Yuedan Wang
2. Ying Li
3. Jiaqing Feng
4. Chuansen Wang
5. Yuwei Wan
6. Bingyang Lv
7. Yinming Li
8. Hao Xie
9. Ting Chen
10. Faxi Wang
11. Ziyue Li
12. Anhuai Yang
13. Xuan Xiao

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  The manuscript establishes a sophisticated mouse model for acute retinal artery occlusion (RAO) by combining unilateral pterygopalatine ophthalmic artery occlusion (UPOAO) with a silicone wire embolus and carotid artery ligation, generating ischemia-reperfusion injury upon removal of the embolus. This clinically relevant model is useful for studying the cellular and molecular mechanisms of RAO. The data overall are solid, presenting a novel tool for screening pathogenic genes and promoting further therapeutic research in RAO.

Reviewed by eLife

Visual information is broadcast among cortical areas in discrete channels

1. Yiyi Yu
2. Jeffery N Stirman
3. Christopher R Dorsett
4. Spencer LaVere Smith

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This important study uses state-of-the-art, multi-region two-photon calcium imaging to characterize the statistics of functional connectivity between visual cortical neurons. While the evidence supporting the conclusions is solid, alternative interpretations of the results cannot be ruled out due to the limitations of calcium imaging, the use of noise correlations as a measure of functional connectivity and putative confounds of behavioural state modulations.

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PVN-mPFC OT projections modulate pup-directed pup care or attacking in virgin mandarin voles

1. Lu Li
2. Yin Li
3. Caihong Huang
4. Wenjuan Hou
5. Zijian Lv
6. Lizi Zhang
7. Yishan Qu
8. Yahan Sun
9. Kaizhe Huang
10. Xiao Han
11. Zhixiong He
12. Fadao Tai

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This important work provides insights into the neural mechanisms regulating specific parental behaviors. By identifying a key role for oxytocin synthesizing cells in the paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus and their projections to the medial prefrontal cortex in promoting pup care and inhibiting infanticide, this study advances our understanding of the neurobiological basis of these contrasting behaviors in male and female mandarin voles. The evidence supporting the authors' conclusions is solid, and this work should be of interest to researchers studying neuropeptide control of social behaviors in the brain.

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Operation regimes of spinal circuits controlling locomotion and the role of supraspinal drives and sensory feedback

1. Ilya A Rybak
2. Natalia A Shevtsova
3. Sergey N Markin
4. Boris I Prilutsky
5. Alain Frigon

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This fundamental state-of-the-art modeling study explores neural mechanisms underlying walking control in cats, demonstrating the probability of three different states of operation of the spinal circuitry generating locomotion at different speeds. The authors' biophysical modeling sufficiently reproduces and provides explanations for experimental data on how the locomotor cycle and phase durations depend on treadmill walking speed and points to new principles of circuit functional architecture and operating regimes underlying how spinal circuits interact with supraspinal signals and limb sensory feedback signals to produce different locomotor behaviors at different speeds, which are major unresolved problems in the field. The modeling evidence is compelling, especially in advancing our understanding of locomotion control mechanisms and will interest neuroscientists studying the neural control of movement.

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Long-range neuropeptide relay as a central-peripheral communication mechanism for the context-dependent modulation of interval timing behaviors

1. Tianmu Zhang
2. Zekun Wu
3. Yutong Song
4. Wenjing Li
5. Yanying Sun
6. Xiaoli Zhang
7. Kyle Wong
8. Justine Schweizer
9. Khoi-Nguyen Ha Nguyen
10. Alex Kwan
11. Woo Jae Kim

Reviewed by Review Commons

POMC neurons control fertility through differential signaling of MC4R in Kisspeptin neurons

1. Rajae Talbi
2. Todd L Stincic
3. Kaitlin Ferrari
4. Choi Ji Hae
5. Karol Walec
6. Elizabeth Medve
7. Achi Gerutshang
8. Silvia León
9. Elizabeth A McCarthy
10. Oline K Rønnekleiv
11. Martin J Kelly
12. Víctor M Navarro

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  The study presents compelling evidence that the melanocortin system originating in the arcuate nucleus of the hypothalamus plays a crucial role in puberty onset, representing a significant advance in our understanding of reproductive biology. The work, which represents a fundamental advance, employs innovative approaches and benefits from the combined expertise of two respected laboratories, enhancing the robustness of the findings. Given the potential impact on human health and the strength of the evidence presented, this work will likely influence the field substantially and may inform future clinical applications.

Reviewed by eLife