Neuroscience

Spatiotemporal neural dynamics of object recognition under uncertainty in humans

1. Yuan-hao Wu
2. Ella Podvalny
3. Biyu J He

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This study investigates the spatiotemporal characteristics of human brain activities during object recognition under noisy and ambiguous conditions. By using state-of-the-art data analysis and model-driven fusion of MEG and 7T, this work demonstrates distinct representational profiles in ventral and dorsal pathways, contributing new perspectives to our understanding of the neural implementation of object recognition under uncertainty.

Reviewed by eLife

Identification of a GABAergic neural circuit governing leptin signaling deficiency-induced obesity

1. Yong Han
2. Yang He
3. Lauren Harris
4. Yong Xu
5. Qi Wu

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  Leptin is a fat-derived hormone that curbs appetite, and mutation of leptin causes obesity and diabetes. This manuscript investigates leptin-responsive neural circuits, revealing a key inhibitory connection from leptin-sensitive neurons in the arcuate nucleus of the hypothalamus (AGRP neurons) to neurons in the dorsomedial hypothalamus. Toggling this inhibitory connection impacted leptin effects on feeding and metabolism. The study contains valuable data, including several interesting molecular genetic systems and the demonstration of GABA signaling in the DMH for the control of food intake, however, there is inadequate information about experimental design, including a lack of quantification and controls, and unjustified assumptions.

Reviewed by eLife

Model-based whole-brain perturbational landscape of neurodegenerative diseases

1. Yonatan Sanz Perl
2. Sol Fittipaldi
3. Cecilia Gonzalez Campo
4. Sebastián Moguilner
5. Josephine Cruzat
6. Matias E Fraile-Vazquez
7. Rubén Herzog
8. Morten L Kringelbach
9. Gustavo Deco
10. Pavel Prado
11. Agustin Ibanez
12. Enzo Tagliazucchi

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  Sanz Perl and colleagues provide important insights regarding the application of computational brain models from neurodegenerative diseases to evaluate brain stimulation protocols in silico. Solid evidence is provided for the disease-specificity of the framework, however, the real-world impact of such stimulation protocols to alleviate psychiatric and neurological symptoms remains to be evaluated.

Reviewed by eLife

Molecular and spatial profiling of the paraventricular nucleus of the thalamus

1. Claire Gao
2. Chiraag A Gohel
3. Yan Leng
4. Jun Ma
5. David Goldman
6. Ariel J Levine
7. Mario A Penzo

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This study uses single cell sequencing to characterize transcriptional profiles of cells in a brain region called the PVT that plays many roles in brain function. The authors combine these data with dataset of neuronal connectivity and conclude there are transcriptomically distinguishable populations of neurons in the PVT with different function. These data deepen our understanding of an important brain region.

Reviewed by eLife

Type I PRMT inhibitor MS023 promotes SMN2 exon 7 inclusion and synergizes with nusinersen to rescue the phenotype of SMA mice

1. Anna J Kordala
2. Nina Ahlskog
3. Muhammad Hanifi
4. Amarjit Bhomra
5. Jessica Stoodley
6. Wooi Fang Lim
7. Suzan M Hammond
8. Matthew JA Wood
9. Carlo Rinaldi

Reviewed by Review Commons

Ion permeation pathway within the internal pore of P2X receptor channels

1. Stephanie W Tam
2. Kate Huffer
3. Mufeng Li
4. Kenton J Swartz

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment:

  This study provides valuable insight into the molecular mechanism of ion selectivity in the broader family of ATP-gated P2X receptors. The experimental data are of high quality, the evidence supporting the conclusions is convincing, and the work will be of broad interest to biophysicists working on ion channel selectivity.

Reviewed by eLife

Concurrent decoding of distinct neurophysiological fingerprints of tremor and bradykinesia in Parkinson’s disease

1. Peter M Lauro
2. Shane Lee
3. Daniel E Amaya
4. David D Liu
5. Umer Akbar
6. Wael F Asaad

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This important study aimed to identify rhythms linked to primary symptoms of Parkinson's disease such as involuntary shaking of the limbs and slowness. The evidence supporting the conclusions is solid, although validating their behavioural measures and considering the relationship between signatures from different brain regions would have strengthened the study. The work will be of broad interest to movement control, movement disorders, and brain stimulation fields.

Reviewed by eLife

Origin of wiring specificity in an olfactory map revealed by neuron type–specific, time-lapse imaging of dendrite targeting

1. Kenneth Kin Lam Wong
2. Tongchao Li
3. Tian-Ming Fu
4. Gaoxiang Liu
5. Cheng Lyu
6. Sayeh Kohani
7. Qijing Xie
8. David J Luginbuhl
9. Srigokul Upadhyayula
10. Eric Betzig
11. Liqun Luo

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  When a neuron is born it correlates with where it targets in the neuropil and this has been best demonstrated in the olfactory lobe of Drosophila. This important study uses sophisticated genetics and advanced live imaging to provide a compelling description of how neuronal dendrites explore the targeting field, eliminate excessive branches, and assort into the correct region during development. In the process, it develops valuable tools. It brings us closer to a comprehensive understanding of how the birth order of a neuron translates to dendrite patterning within the Drosophila antennal lobe circuit

Reviewed by eLife

Cortical magnification eliminates differences in contrast sensitivity across but not around the visual field

1. Michael Jigo
2. Daniel Tavdy
3. Marc M Himmelberg
4. Marisa Carrasco

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This important study provides a provocative potential challenge to explain sensitivity across the visual field by using cortical magnification factors. The evidence supporting this theoretical challenge is solid in general, although the inclusion of subject-specific measurements of cortical magnification factors would have strengthened the study. The work will be of interest to vision researchers of both basic and medical science.

Reviewed by eLife

Neural dynamics underlying self-control in the primate subthalamic nucleus

1. Benjamin Pasquereau
2. Robert S Turner

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This valuable study by Pasquereau and Turner examined the activity neurons in the subthalamic nucleus (STN) while monkeys performed a task in which they had to withhold their response during a delay period whose length was defined by a specific cue. The results indicate that the activity of STN neurons was modulated by reward size and delay. The results are potentially important for understanding how STN regulates behavior such as self-control, but the reviewers thought that the study is incomplete as the analyses, at least in the presented forms, have some potential problems and some analyses require clarification.

Reviewed by eLife