Neuroscience

Comparative neuroimaging of sex differences in human and mouse brain anatomy

1. Elisa Guma
2. Antoine Beauchamp
3. Siyuan Liu
4. Elizabeth Levitis
5. Jacob Ellegood
6. Linh Pham
7. Rogier B Mars
8. Armin Raznahan
9. Jason P Lerch

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  In this important study, Guma and colleagues describe the use of structural neuroimaging to assess the cross-species convergence of sex differences in global and regional brain volumes in humans and mice. The goal of the work is to inform to what extent mouse studies of these aforementioned sex differences have relevance to humans. The authors suggest which aspects of brain anatomy (as measured by volume) are conserved or not, across species, which has theoretical and practical implications beyond a single sub-field. The evidence to support the findings is solid, it uses methods and data analysis that are appropriate and validated.

Reviewed by eLife

Enhanced KNa1.1 Channel Underlies Cortical Hyperexcitability and Seizure Susceptibility after Traumatic Brain Injury

1. Ru Liu
2. Lei Sun
3. Le Du
4. Xi Guo
5. Meng Jia
6. Qun Wang
7. Jianping Wu

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This potentially valuable study provides some evidence that upregulation of sodium-activated potassium channels contributes to neuronal hyperexcitability and seizures following traumatic brain injury. However, the evidence supporting a direct link is incomplete. This work will be of interest to epilepsy and ion channel researchers.

Reviewed by eLife

Acetylcholine modulates the precision of prediction error in the auditory cortex

1. David Pérez-González
2. Ana Belén Lao-Rodríguez
3. Cristian Aedo-Sánchez
4. Manuel S Malmierca

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  The findings of this study are valuable as they provide new insights into the role of acetylcholine in modulating sensory processing in the auditory cortex. This paper reports a systematic measurement of cell activity in the auditory cortex before and after the microiontophoretic application of Ach during an oddball and cascade sequence of auditory stimuli. The evidence presented is convincing, as the study used a rigorous experimental design and statistical analysis. The manuscript will interest researchers in auditory neuroscience and neuromodulation, as well as clinicians and individuals with auditory processing disorders.

Reviewed by eLife

osl-dynamics, a toolbox for modeling fast dynamic brain activity

1. Chetan Gohil
2. Rukuang Huang
3. Evan Roberts
4. Mats WJ van Es
5. Andrew J Quinn
6. Diego Vidaurre
7. Mark W Woolrich

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  The authors present a comprehensive set of tools to compactly characterize the time-frequency interactions across a network. The utility of the toolbox is compelling and demonstrated through a series of exemplar brain imaging datasets. This fundamental work adds to the repertoire of techniques that can be used to study high-dimensional data.

Reviewed by eLife

Cross‐pathway integration of cAMP signals through cGMP and calcium‐regulated phosphodiesterases in mouse striatal cholinergic interneurons

1. Ségolène Bompierre
2. Yelyzaveta Byelyayeva
3. Elia Mota
4. Marion Lefevre
5. Anna Pumo
6. Jan Kehler
7. Liliana R. V. Castro
8. Pierre Vincent

Reviewed by Review Commons

Sexual coordination in a whole-brain map of prairie vole pair bonding

1. Morgan L Gustison
2. Rodrigo Muñoz-Castañeda
3. Pavel Osten
4. Steven M Phelps

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This is an important study using 3D mapping of neuronal activation throughout the brain after pair-bonding in the monogamous vole, which can be broadly applied to other species and behaviors. The authors provide compelling evidence that there is some synchrony between male and female partners that have formed a pair bond, the strength of which is based on the number of ejaculations received by the female. Same-sex pairs also form a pair bond and were found to have activation in the same brain regions as mixed sex couples. An overall low level of sex differences in the degree and location of brain activation was observed, which was unexpected. This work will be of interest to those interested in social behavior and its neural mechanisms, or brain systems or behavior more broadly.

Reviewed by eLife

14-3-3 protein augments the protein stability of phosphorylated spastin and promotes the recovery of spinal cord injury through its agonist intervention

1. Qiuling Liu
2. Hua Yang
3. Jianxian Luo
4. Cheng Peng
5. Ke Wang
6. Guowei Zhang
7. Hongsheng Lin
8. Zhisheng Ji

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  The finding that Fusicoccin (FC-A) promotes locomotor recovery after spinal cord injury is supported by solid data, and the idea of harnessing small molecules that may affect protein-protein interactions to promote axon regeneration is valuable. The evidence showing that 14-3-3 and spastin interact and that 14-3-3 enhances spastin function and stability in cells is also solid.

Reviewed by eLife

Mechanical activation of TWIK-related potassium channel by nanoscopic movement and rapid second messenger signaling

1. E Nicholas Petersen
2. Mahmud Arif Pavel
3. Samuel S Hansen
4. Manasa Gudheti
5. Hao Wang
6. Zixuan Yuan
7. Keith R Murphy
8. William Ja
9. Heather A Ferris
10. Erik Jorgensen
11. Scott B Hansen

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This important study poses a provocative mechanism of channel activation of the mechanically activated ion channel TREK-1. The data provide solid evidence that the application of shear to cells causes a redistribution of both TREK-1 and an associated enzyme, PhospholipaseD2 in the membrane that increases the enzyme activity. The work offers a new mechanism, but note that this is only one possible method of channel activation, and mechanisms independent of PLD2 are also probable.

Reviewed by eLife

Engram reactivation mimics cellular signatures of fear

1. Rebecca L. Suthard
2. Ryan A. Senne
3. Michelle D. Buzharsky
4. Anh H. Diep
5. Angela Y. Pyo
6. Steve Ramirez

Reviewed by Arcadia Science

A generative model of electrophysiological brain responses to stimulation

1. Diego Vidaurre

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This study presents a valuable finding on developing a state-of-the-art generative model of brain electrophysiological signals to explain temporal decoding matrices widely used in cognitive neuroscience. The evidence supporting the authors' claims is convincing. The results will be strengthened by providing more clear mappings between neurobiological mechanisms and signal generators in the model. The work will be of interest to cognitive neuroscientists using electrophysiological recordings.

Reviewed by eLife