Neuroscience

A brain-wide analysis maps structural evolution to distinct anatomical module

1. Robert A Kozol
2. Andrew J Conith
3. Anders Yuiska
4. Alexia Cree-Newman
5. Bernadeth Tolentino
6. Kasey Benesh
7. Alexandra Paz
8. Evan Lloyd
9. Johanna E Kowalko
10. Alex C Keene
11. Craig Albertson
12. Erik R Duboue

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  The authors ask if brain regions change based on the functional constraints or developmental constraints. To address this, they introduce an automated method for brain segmentation based on the zebrafish tool to study brain evolution in Astyanax. A caveat is that it is difficult to test the functional constraint hypothesis using this method, though it works well for testing developmental constraints.

Reviewed by eLife

Pupil size reflects activation of subcortical ascending arousal system nuclei during rest

1. Beth Lloyd
2. Lycia D de Voogd
3. Verónica Mäki-Marttunen
4. Sander Nieuwenhuis

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  These are important findings that show that pupil size is not only governed by the locus coeruleus but also by other neuromodulatory subcortical systems. Furthermore, the authors demonstrate that using a standard hemodynamic response kernel is not appropriate for capturing the activity of these systems, at least at rest. Thus, this paper presents compelling evidence against two prevalent working assumptions among researchers in the field.

Reviewed by eLife

Growth/differentiation factor 15 controls number of ependymal and neural stem cells in the ventricular-subventricular zone

1. Katja Baur
2. Carmen Carrillo-García
3. Şeydanur Şan
4. Manja von Hahn
5. Jens Strelau
6. Gabriele Hölzl-Wenig
7. Claudia Mandl
8. Francesca Ciccolini

Reviewed by Review Commons

Differential ripple propagation along the hippocampal longitudinal axis

1. Roberto De Filippo
2. Dietmar Schmitz

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This is an interesting study investigating the propagation dynamics of ripples recorded from the dorsal hippocampus of mice using an open-access dataset. Findings may have theoretical and practical implications for the study and manipulation of sharp-wave ripples, a main oscillatory event underlying memory consolidation. While the strength of evidence is solid and claims broadly supported, there are some points requiring additional analysis to clarify issues regarding the anatomical axes involved and to reinforce mechanistic insights.

Reviewed by eLife

FBXO7/ntc and USP30 antagonistically set the ubiquitination threshold for basal mitophagy and provide a target for Pink1 phosphorylation in vivo

1. Alvaro Sanchez-Martinez
2. Aitor Martinez
3. Alexander J. Whitworth

Reviewed by Review Commons

A descending inhibitory mechanism of nociception mediated by an evolutionarily conserved neuropeptide system in Drosophila

1. Izumi Oikawa
2. Shu Kondo
3. Kao Hashimoto
4. Akiho Yoshida
5. Megumi Hamajima
6. Hiromu Tanimoto
7. Katsuo Furukubo-Tokunaga
8. Ken Honjo

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This is a very interesting and important study that convincingly demonstrates a descending pathway for the control of nociception in non-mammalian organisms.

Reviewed by eLife

The 5:2 diet does not increase adult hippocampal neurogenesis or enhance spatial memory in mice

1. Luke D Roberts
2. Amanda KE Hornsby
3. Alanna Thomas
4. Martina Sassi
5. Aimee Kinzett
6. Nathan Hsiao
7. Bethan R David
8. Mark Good
9. Timothy Wells
10. Jeffrey S Davies

Reviewed by Review Commons

Early language exposure affects neural mechanisms of semantic representations

1. Xiaosha Wang
2. Bijun Wang
3. Yanchao Bi

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This study provides important evidence regarding the development of concept representations, using functional brain imaging to compare concept structure in people with different amounts of language experience. The analyses, which are overall solid, suggest that representations in the left lateral anterior temporal lobe differ as a function of childhood language experience.

Reviewed by eLife

Model discovery to link neural activity to behavioral tasks

1. Jamie D Costabile
2. Kaarthik A Balakrishnan
3. Sina Schwinn
4. Martin Haesemeyer

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This useful paper describes a sensitive method for identifying the contributions of different behavioral and stimulus parameters to neural activity. The method has been convincingly validated using simulated data and applied to example state of the art data sets from mouse and zebrafish. The method could be productively applied to a wide range of experiments in behavioral and systems neuroscience, but it remained unclear how it relates to or improves on similar, existing methods.

Reviewed by eLife

Instantaneous antidepressant effect of lateral habenula deep brain stimulation in rats studied with functional MRI

1. Gen Li
2. Binshi Bo
3. Puxin Wang
4. Peixing Qian
5. Mingzhe Li
6. Yuyan Li
7. Chuanjun Tong
8. Kaiwei Zhang
9. Baogui Zhang
10. Tianzi Jiang
11. Zhifeng Liang
12. Xiaojie Duan

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  The authors present an important contribution to the field of deep brain stimulation (DBS) for depression by providing further evidence for the validity of the lateral habenula as a DBS target. The evidence provided is compelling and particularly strong in its use of fMRI to delineate target subregions best corresponding both to clinical and downstream fMRI response. This study provides information relevant to both surgical targeting and the mechanism of action for this DBS target.

Reviewed by eLife