Neuroscience

Spatiotemporal brain complexity quantifies consciousness outside of perturbation paradigms

1. Martin Breyton
2. Jan Fousek
3. Giovanni Rabuffo
4. Pierpaolo Sorrentino
5. Lionel Kusch
6. Marcello Massimini
7. Spase Petkoski
8. Viktor Jirsa

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This important study examined the complexity of emergent dynamics of large-scale neural network models after perturbation (perturbational complexity index, PCI) and used it as a measurement of consciousness to account for previous recordings of humans at various anesthetized levels. The evidence supporting the conclusion is solid and constitutes a unified framework for different observations related to consciousness. There are many fields that would be interested in this study, including cognitive neuroscience, psychology, complex systems, neural networks, and neural dynamics.

Reviewed by eLife

Structure transfer and consolidation in visual implicit learning

1. Dominik Garber
2. József Fiser

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This study investigates the conditions under which abstract knowledge transfers to new learning. It presents evidence across a number of behavioral experiments that when explicit awareness of learned statistical structure is present, knowledge can transfer immediately, but that otherwise similar transfer requires sleep-dependent consolidation. The valuable results provide new constraints on theories of transfer learning and consolidation, though limitations in the statistical approach and interpretation make the current evidence incomplete.

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Sequential deactivation across the thalamus-hippocampus-mPFC pathway during loss of consciousness

1. Xiaoai Chen
2. Samuel R. Cramer
3. Dennis C.Y. Chan
4. Xu Han
5. Nanyin Zhang

Reviewed by PREreview

Upregulated expression of ubiquitin ligase TRIM21 promotes PKM2 nuclear translocation and astrocyte activation in experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis

1. Luting Yang
2. Chunqing Hu
3. Xiaowen Chen
4. Jie Zhang
5. Zhe Feng
6. Yanxin Xiao
7. Weitai He
8. Tingting Cui
9. Xin Zhang
10. Yang Yang
11. Yaling Zhang
12. Yaping Yan

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This important work describes the activation of astrocytes via the nuclear translocation of PKM2 in an animal model of multiple sclerosis. This study provides convincing evidence of the interaction between TRIM21 and PKM2 as the crucial molecular event leading to the translocation of PKM2 and a metabolic shift towards glycolysis dominance, fostering proliferation in stimulated astrocytes. This finding is significant as it underscores the potential of targeting glycolytic metabolism to mitigate neurological diseases mediated by astrocytes, offering a strong rationale for potential therapeutic interventions.

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Laminar specificity and coverage of viral-mediated gene expression restricted to GABAergic interneurons and their parvalbumin subclass in marmoset primary visual cortex

1. Frederick Federer
2. Justin Balsor
3. Alexander Ingold
4. David P Babcock
5. Jordane Dimidschstein
6. Alessandra Angelucci

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  Unlocking the potential of molecular genetic tools (optogenetics, chemogenetics, sensors, etc.) for the study of systems neuroscience in nonhuman primates requires the development of effective regulatory elements for cell-type specific expression to facilitate circuit dissection. This study provides a valuable building block, by carefully characterizing the laminar expression profile of two optogenetic enhancers, one designed for general GABA+ergic neurons (h56D) and the second (S5E2) for parvalbumin+ cell-type selective expression in the marmoset primary visual cortex. This study contributes solid evidence to our understanding of these tools but is limited by the understandably small number of animals used.

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Sensorimotor delays constrain robust locomotion in a 3D kinematic model of fly walking

1. Lili Karashchuk
2. Jing Shuang (Lisa) Li
3. Grant M Chou
4. Sarah Walling-Bell
5. Steven L Brunton
6. John C Tuthill
7. Bingni W Brunton

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This valuable study presents a computational model that simulates walking motions in Drosophila and suggests that, if sensorimotor delays in the neural circuitry were any longer, the system would be easily destabilized by external perturbations. The hierarchical control model is sensible and the evidence supporting the conclusions is solid. However, because the modular model has many interacting components with varying degrees of biological realism, it is difficult to judge the degree to which the observed differences between simulation and empirical data are meaningful, and the precise source of the discrepancies.

Reviewed by eLife

The inevitability and superfluousness of cell types in spatial cognition

1. Xiaoliang Luo
2. Robert M Mok
3. Bradley C Love

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This study uses a deep neural network approach to challenge the role of spatially selective neurons like place, head or border cells for position decoding. The findings are important as they suggest that such functional cell types may emerge naturally from object recognition in complex visual environments, but are neither necessary, nor particularly critical for position decoding. However, direct evidence supporting this conclusion remains incomplete.

Reviewed by eLife

Spatial localization of hippocampal replay requires dopamine signaling

1. Matthew R Kleinman
2. David J Foster

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  The study by Kleinman and Foster identifies a role for VTA dopamine signaling in modulating hippocampal replay and sharp-wave ripples, specifically highlighting how VTA inactivation leads to aberrant replay activities in scenarios without reward changes and during exposure to novel environments. This valuable work contributes to our understanding of the neurobiological mechanisms underlying spatial memory and learning, suggesting that dopamine plays a pivotal role in linking reward context and novelty to memory consolidation processes. However, the evidence as currently presented is incomplete. More rigorous statistical reporting and histological verification of the experimental approach, and a more consistent approach to experimental dosing and timing, which are crucial for confirming the reproducibility and reliability of the observed effects, are needed.

Reviewed by eLife

Neural dynamics of visual working memory representation during sensory distraction

1. Jonas Karolis Degutis
2. Simon Weber
3. Joram Soch
4. John-Dylan Haynes

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This useful study reports a reanalysis of one experiment of a previously published report to characterize the dynamics of neural population codes during visual working memory in the presence of distracting information. The evidence supporting the claims of dynamic codes is incomplete, as only a subset of the original data is analyzed, there is only modest evidence for dynamic coding in the results, and the result might be affected by the signal-to-noise ratio. This research will be of interest to cognitive neuroscientists working on the neural bases of visual perception and memory.

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Micro-Scale Control of Oligodendrocyte Morphology and Myelination by the Intellectual Disability-Linked Protein Acyltransferase ZDHHC9

1. Hey-Kyeong Jeong
2. Estibaliz Gonzalez-Fernandez
3. Ilan Crawley
4. Jinha Hwang
5. Dale DO Martin
6. Shernaz X Bamji
7. Jong-Il Kim
8. Shin H Kang
9. Gareth M Thomas

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This study provides an in-depth exploration of the impact of X-linked ZDHHC9 gene mutations on cognitive deficits and epilepsy, with a particular focus on the expression and function of ZDHHC9 in myelin-forming oligodendrocytes (OLs). These valuable findings offer insights into ZDHHC9-related X-linked intellectual disability (XLID) and shed light on the regulatory mechanisms of palmitoylation in myelination. The experimental design and analysis of results are solid, providing a reference for further research in this field.

Reviewed by eLife