Neuroscience

Suggestion of creatine as a new neurotransmitter by approaches ranging from chemical analysis and biochemistry to electrophysiology

1. Xiling Bian
2. Jiemin Zhu
3. Xiaobo Jia
4. Wenjun Liang
5. Sihan Yu
6. Zhiqiang Li
7. Wenxia Zhang
8. Yi Rao

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This study presents valuable observations on a potential role of creatine (Cr) as a novel neurotransmitter. While the data provide compelling evidence that Cr is present in synaptic vesicles, the evidence that Cr is synaptically released and binds to a post-synaptic receptor is incomplete, as no receptor is described. With further evidence, these results will be of wide interest to the field of neuroscience.

Reviewed by eLife

Multiple dynamic interactions from basal ganglia direct and indirect pathways mediate action selection

1. Hao Li
2. Xin Jin

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  In this valuable manuscript Li & Jin record from the substantial nigra and dorsal striatum to identify subpopulations of neurons with activity that reflects different dynamics during action selection, and then use optogenetics in transgenic mice to selectively inhibit or excite D1- and D2- expressing spiny projection neurons in the striatum, demonstrating a causal role for each in action selection in an opposing manner. They provide solid evidence for the argument that their findings cannot be explained by current models and propose a new 'triple control' model instead, with one direct and two indirect pathways, although direct evidence for a second indirect pathway is still lacking. These findings will be of broad interest to neuroscientists across multiple subfields.

Reviewed by eLife

Postsynaptic mitochondria are positioned to support functional diversity of dendritic spines

1. Connon I Thomas
2. Melissa A Ryan
3. Naomi Kamasawa
4. Benjamin Scholl

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This study reports valuable findings on the correlation between the positions of dendritic mitochondria and the orientation preference of calcium responses of individual spines. The conclusion about the biased localization of dendritic mitochondria near functional diverse spines is informative to understand the functions of dendritic mitochondria. The experimental evidence supporting the conclusion is compelling.

Reviewed by eLife

Opposing chemosensory functions of closely related gustatory receptors

1. Ji-Eun Ahn
2. Hubert Amrein

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This valuable study focuses on the role of the Gr28 family of insect chemoreceptors. Using the Drosophila larva, the authors show that taste neurons expressing different members of this family of bitter taste receptors trigger opposite behavior – attraction and repulsion. They establish the minimal bitter taste receptor subunit composition needed in these neurons to mediate the repulsion of bitter tastants. The evidence presented is convincing, using well-validated and controlled tools and experiments.

Reviewed by eLife

Avoiding false discoveries in single-cell RNA-seq by revisiting the first Alzheimer’s disease dataset

1. Alan E Murphy
2. Nurun Fancy
3. Nathan Skene

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This paper reports a useful finding on the impact of choices of quality control and differential analysis methods on the discovery of disease-associated gene expression signatures. The study provides a solid comparison of the data process by re-analysis of a large-scale snRNA-seq dataset for Alzheimer's Disease. This paper would be of interest to the community as to rigorous analyses for large-scale single cell datasets.

Reviewed by eLife

Placebo treatment affects brain systems related to affective and cognitive processes, but not nociceptive pain

1. Rotem Botvinik-Nezer
2. Bogdan Petre
3. Marta Ceko
4. Martin A. Lindquist
5. Naomi P. Friedman
6. Tor D. Wager

Reviewed by Arcadia Science

Automated morphometric analysis with SMorph software reveals plasticity induced by antidepressant therapy in hippocampal astrocytes

1. Parul Sethi
2. Garima Virmani
3. Kushaan Gupta
4. Surya Chandra Rao Thumu
5. Narendrakumar Ramanan
6. Swananda Marathe

Reviewed by Review Commons

Neural crest-related NXPH1/α-NRXN signaling opposes neuroblastoma malignancy by inhibiting metastasis

1. Lucía Fanlo-Escudero
2. Soledad Gómez-González
3. Irene Sangrador
4. Emmanuel L. Gautier
5. Susana Usieto
6. Elena Rebollo
7. Mònica Vila-Ubach
8. Ángel M. Carcaboso
9. Toni Celià-Terrassa
10. Cinzia Lavarino
11. Elisa Martí
12. Gwenvael Le Dréau

Reviewed by Review Commons