Neuroscience

Method of loci training yields unique prefrontal representations that support effective memory encoding

1. Jingyuan Ren
2. Boris N Konrad
3. Yannan Zhu
4. Fan Li
5. Michael Czisch
6. Martin Dresler
7. Isabella C Wagner

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This study presents a useful array of analyses of the effects of training and/or instruction to use the method of loci during episodic encoding and retrieval. A major strength of the experiment is the impressive recruitment of memory athletes and the training of novice athletes to use the method of loci, long known to improve the precision of memory recall. That said, the sheer number of results and their organization should be addressed; streamlining the results and placing them, whenever possible, in a theoretical framework. As it stands, the presented work is incomplete with respect to the major conclusions that training itself leads to neural differentiation of prefrontal cortical neural patterns, and the authors need to temper these claims.

Reviewed by eLife

The long-range gene regulatory landscape of cerebellar granule neuron progenitors

1. Kimberley LH Riegman
2. Charlotte George
3. Danielle E Whittaker
4. Mohi U Ahmed
5. Haiyang Yun
6. Brian JP Huntly
7. David Sims
8. Cameron S Osborne
9. M Albert Basson

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This work provides a map of enhancer-promoter interactions associated with genes controlling the development of a specific neuronal cell population. The study offers a valuable resource and integrates multiple complementary datasets to provide insights into regulatory mechanisms, although the conceptual advances are moderate and the central message could be clearer. The evidence supporting the conclusions is generally solid, but the lack of direct functional testing of key regulatory elements limits the strength of some claims.

  [Editors' note: this paper was reviewed by Review Commons.]

Reviewed by eLife

Neurotrophin-3 produced by motor neurons non-cell autonomously regulate the development of pre-motor interneurons in the developing spinal cord

1. Andrea Angla-Navarro
2. Ana Dominguez Bajo
3. Mathilde Toch
4. Cédric Francius
5. Maria Hidalgo-Figueroa
6. Jingwen Zhang
7. Olivier Schakman
8. Manon Martin
9. Xiuqian Mu
10. René Rezsohazy
11. Françoise Gofflot
12. Frédéric Clotman

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This is a useful study that seeks to elucidate the molecular mechanisms underlying spinal motor circuit assembly. The authors demonstrate that loss of Onecut transcription factors in spinal motor neurons affects the size and spatial distribution of pre-motor interneurons. However, the study in its current form is incomplete: the data and analyses do not fully support the main conclusion that Onecut acts through Neurotrophin-3 to regulate interneuron development in a non-cell autonomous manner. The work will be of broad interest to cell and developmental biologists.

Reviewed by eLife

Morphine regulates astrocyte transcriptional dynamics in the ventral tegmental area by stimulation of glucocorticoid signaling

1. Jennifer J Tuscher
2. Angela Cleere
3. Robert A Phillips
4. Catherine E Newman
5. Guy Twa
6. Nathaniel J Robinson
7. Lara Ianov
8. Robert E Sorge
9. Jeremy J Day

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This important study examines how chronic pain and opioid exposure interact at the cellular and molecular levels in a reward-related brain region. Using single-nucleus RNA sequencing, the authors map transcriptional changes in the rat ventral tegmental area following chronic inflammatory pain and acute morphine exposure. Notably, their convincing data support that acute morphine, not chronic pain, elicits a stress-related transcriptional response primarily in glial cells rather than neurons, challenging prevailing views of opioid action and supporting growing evidence for glucocorticoid signaling in glial responses. A limitation is the use of a single opioid dose and time point, and further discussion of these constraints would help clarify the broader implications of the findings.

Reviewed by eLife

Programmed Cell Death Modifies Neural Circuits and Tunes Intrinsic Behavior

1. Alison Kochersberger
2. Dongyeop Lee
3. Mohammad Mahdi Torkashvand
4. Sandeep Kumar
5. Saba Baskoylu
6. Titas Sengupta
7. Noelle Koonce
8. Chloe E. Emerson
9. Nandan V. Patel
10. Daniel Colón-Ramos
11. Steven Flavell
12. Andrew M. Leifer
13. Vivek Venkatachalam
14. H. Robert Horvitz
15. Marc Hammarlund

Reviewed by Review Commons