Neuroscience

The representation of facial emotion expands from sensory to prefrontal cortex with development

1. Xiaoxu Fan
2. Abhishek Tripathi
3. Kelly R Bijanki

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment
  This study examines an important question regarding the developmental trajectory of neural mechanisms supporting facial expression processing. Leveraging a rare intracranial EEG (iEEG) dataset including both children and adults, the authors reported that facial expression recognition mainly engaged the posterior superior temporal cortex (pSTC) among children, while both pSTC and the prefrontal cortex were engaged among adults. In terms of strength of evidence, the solid methods, data and analyses broadly support the claims with minor weaknesses.

Reviewed by eLife

A Forebrain Hub for Cautious Actions via the Midbrain

1. Ji Zhou
2. Muhammad S Sajid
3. Sebastian Hormigo
4. Manuel A Castro-Alamancos

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This valuable study uses fiber photometry, implantable lenses, and optogenetics, to show that a subset of subthalamic nucleus neurons are active during movement, and that active but not passive avoidance depends in part on STN projections to substantia nigra. The strength of the evidence for these claims is solid, whereas evidence supporting the claims that STN is involved in cautious responding is unclear as presented. This paper may be of interest to basic and applied behavioural neuroscientists working on movement or avoidance.

Reviewed by eLife

A three-dimensional immunofluorescence atlas of the brain of the hackled-orb weaver spider, Uloborus diversus

1. Gregory Artiushin
2. Abel Corver
3. Andrew Gordus

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This valuable study provides a 3D standardised anatomical atlas of the brain of an orb-weaving spider. The authors describe the brain's shape and its inner compartments-the neuropils-and add information on the distribution of a number of neuroactive substances such as neurotransmitters and neuropeptides. Through the use of histological and microscopy methods the authors provide a more complete view of an arachnid brain than previous studies and also presents convincing evidence about the organisation and homology of brain regions. The work will serve as a reference for future studies on spider brains and will enables comparisons of brain regions with insects so that the evolution of these structures can be inferred across arthropods.

Reviewed by eLife

Emergence of Functional Heart-Brain Circuits in a Vertebrate

1. L. Hernandez-Nunez
2. J. Avrami
3. S. Shi
4. A. Markarian
5. J. Boulanger-Weill
6. A. Zarghani-Shiraz
7. M. Ahrens
8. F. Engert
9. M.C. Fishman

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  In this important manuscript, the authors establish a vertebrate model for studying the development of circuits that control heart rate. This contribution uses a combination of experimental techniques to provide compelling information for scientists looking to understand how heart rate regulation emerges during development.

Reviewed by eLife

Intersection of transient cell states with stable cell types in hippocampus

1. Jack A Olmstead
2. Lauren E King
3. Brenda L Bloodgood

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This important study provides a detailed analysis of the transcriptional landscape of the mouse hippocampus in the context of various physiological states. The main conclusions have solid support: that most transcriptional targets are generally stable, with notable exceptions in the dentate gyrus and with regard to circadian changes. There are some weaknesses and it would improve the manuscript to address them.

Reviewed by eLife

Voltage imaging reveals the emergence of population activity in the spinal cord

1. Asuka Shiraishi
2. Ayane Hayashi
3. Narumi Fukuda
4. Mari Hishinuma
5. Hiroaki Miyazawa
6. Sachiko Tsuda

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This paper presents an important advance in genetically encoded voltage imaging of the developing zebrafish spinal cord in vivo, capturing voltage dynamics in neuronal populations, single cells, and subcellular compartments inaccessible to patch clamp, and diverse spike waveforms and subthreshold voltage dynamics inaccessible to calcium imaging. The work identifies a developmental progression from irregular voltage fluctuations to coordinated contralateral and ipsilateral activity, providing insight into how electrical dynamics and cellular morphology evolve during circuit formation. The strength of evidence is solid, with imaging data supporting the main conclusions, although the manuscript would be strengthened by more complete methodological documentation and clearer context relative to earlier calcium imaging studies. Overall, this study provides a resource that is of importance for researchers investigating neural development and circuit assembly, illustrating the value of voltage imaging as a general tool for probing bioelectric mechanisms in morphogenesis and circuit development.

Reviewed by eLife

Maximized field-of-view deep-brain calcium imaging through gradient-index lenses

1. Chenmao Wang
2. Zongyue Cheng
3. Yuting Li
4. Jianian Lin
5. Meng Cui

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This study presents a valuable and practical approach for one-photon imaging through GRIN lenses. By scanning a low numerical aperture (NA) beam and collecting fluorescence with a high NA, the method expands the usable field of view and yields clearer cellular signals. The evidence is solid overall, with strong qualitative demonstrations, but some claims would benefit from additional quantitative tests. The work will interest researchers who need simple, scalable tools for large‑area cellular imaging in the brain.

Reviewed by eLife

Non-decision time-informed collapsing threshold diffusion model: A joint modeling framework with identifiable time-dependent parameters

1. Amir Hosein Hadian Rasanan
2. Lukas Schumacher
3. Michael D Nunez
4. Gabriel Weindel
5. Jörg Rieskamp

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This study provides a valuable advance in understanding how decision boundaries may change over time during simple choices by introducing a method that uses information about non-decision components to improve parameter estimates. The evidence supporting the main claims is convincing, with clear demonstrations on simulated and real data, although additional model comparison work would further strengthen confidence. The findings will be of interest to researchers studying human decision processes and the methods used to analyse them.

Reviewed by eLife

Insulin resistance alters cortical inhibitory neurons and microglia to exacerbate Alzheimer’s knock-in mouse phenotypes

1. LaShae Nicholson
2. Si Jie Tang
3. Tejaswini Karra
4. Habiba Abouelatta
5. Stephen M. Strittmatter

Reviewed by PREreview

Shaker it OFF: Biophysical Characterization of an Inactivating Potassium Conductance Mediating Object Segmentation in a Collision-Detecting Neuron

1. Gil Shaulsky
2. David Bellini
3. Dylan Ulloa
4. Eleni Nasiotis
5. Hala Khan
6. Hongxia Wang
7. Jiayi Luo
8. Herman Dierick
9. Chenghang Zong
10. Fabrizio Gabbiani
11. Richard B. Dewell

Reviewed by PREreview