Neuroscience

MLIB: an easy-to-use Matlab toolbox for the analysis of extracellular spike data

1. Maik Christopher Stüttgen

Reviewed by Peer Community in Neuroscience

Dissociable neural substrates of integration and segregation in exogenous attention

1. Yu-Jie Chen
2. Ai-Su Li
3. Yang Yu
4. Su Hu
5. Xun He
6. Yang Zhang

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This important study uses an optimized IOR-Stroop fMRI paradigm to dissociate integration and segregation processes and to show that attentional orienting modulates conflict processing at both the semantic and response levels. The evidence is compelling, supporting the integration-segregation theory of exogenous attention in inhibition of return while also deepening our understanding of how attentional orienting shapes downstream cognitive processing. The work will therefore be of broad interest to researchers in attention and cognitive control.

Reviewed by eLife

Cortical motor activity modulates respiration and reduces apnoea in neonates

1. Coen S Zandvoort
2. Fatima Usman
3. Shellie Robinson
4. Odunayo Fatunla
5. Eleri Adams
6. Kyle TS Pattinson
7. Simon F Farmer
8. Caroline Hartley

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  Zandvoort and colleagues have used an innovative approach to study respiration-brain coupling in the context of apnoea in human newborns. This fundamental question is supported with convincing data and analyses. Having addressed all the reviewer comments, there was a general consensus that this work will be of great interest, not only to neonatal clinicians and physiologists, but also broadly to anyone interested in brain-body interactions.

Reviewed by eLife

Neural Representation of Associative Threat Learning in Pulvinar Divisions, Lateral Geniculate Nucleus, and Mediodorsal Thalamus in Humans

1. Muhammad Badarnee
2. Zhenfu Wen
3. B Isabel Moallem
4. Stephen Maren
5. Mohammed R Milad

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This study provides valuable insights into the role of thalamic nuclei in associative threat and extinction learning, underpinned by a large dataset and rigorous, multipronged analyses. The evidence provided is solid, supporting the main conclusions. Minor analytical refinements notwithstanding, the manuscript will be of broad interest to researchers in learning and memory, fear, thalamic circuitry, and related mental health conditions.

Reviewed by eLife

The nucleus accumbens shell regulates hedonic feeding via a rostral hotspot

1. Alina-Măriuca Marinescu
2. Eshita Kamal
3. Peter Leary
4. Keila Navarro I Batista
5. Manuel Klug
6. Nataša Savić
7. Christelle Le Foll
8. Marie A Labouesse

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This study provides a valuable contribution to understanding the functional and molecular organization of the medial nucleus accumbens shell in feeding behavior. Through a multimodal approach that integrates in vivo imaging, optogenetic manipulation, and genetic strategies, the authors present convincing evidence for rostro-caudal differences in D1-SPN activity, advancing and refining earlier pharmacological frameworks. The discovery of Stard5 and Peg10 as regionally informative markers, together with the introduction of a Stard5-Flp driver line, establishes a foundation for more targeted circuit dissection. While an expanded characterization of other Stard5-positive cell populations (e.g., D2-SPNs, interneurons) would strengthen the work, the experimental rigor and internal consistency of the findings are clear. Overall, this is a technically strong and conceptually meaningful study with broad relevance for those investigating neural mechanisms of reward, affect, and feeding.

Reviewed by eLife

Prolonged oscillating preoptic area kisspeptin neuron activity underlies the preovulatory luteinizing hormone surge in mice

1. Ziyue Zhou
2. Cheng-Yu Huang
3. Allan E Herbison

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This fundamental work advances our understanding of the role of kisspeptin neurons in regulating the luteinizing hormone (LH) surge in females. The study uses cutting-edge techniques to provide compelling and rigorous data supporting a critical role of RP3V kisspeptin neurons in the neuroendocrine LH surge process. This research will be of interest to reproductive biologists and neuroscientists studying the female ovarian cycle. Continuing to examine the complexities of the LH surge and the neuronal populations involved, as done in this study, is critical for developing therapeutic treatments for women's reproductive disorders.

Reviewed by eLife

Intravital calcium imaging of meningeal macrophages reveals niche-specific dynamics and aberrant responses to brain hyperexcitability

1. Simone Carneiro-Nascimento
2. Chao Wei
3. Anna Gutterman
4. Dan Levy

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This study provides important insights into how immune cells in the brain's protective layers behave under normal and disease-like conditions, revealing location-specific activity patterns that may shape inflammation and disorders such as migraine. The evidence is compelling and supported by advanced imaging approaches and rigorous analyses, although some conceptual and interpretational limitations temper the mechanistic depth. Overall, the work will be of broad interest and represents an invaluable contribution to the growing field linking immune and nervous system function.

Reviewed by eLife

Interdigitating Modules for Visual Processing During Locomotion and Rest in Mouse V1

1. Andrew M Meier
2. Rinaldo D D’Souza
3. Weiqing Ji
4. Edward B Han
5. Andreas Burkhalter

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This valuable study shows that locomotion-related modulations in the mouse visual cortex are not uniform but primarily affect neurons in muscarinic receptor-negative patches, which receive projections from specific cortical areas. While the evidence is mostly solid, some uncertainties remain regarding the link between anatomical data and functional measurements. The study should be of interest to neuroscientists interested in state modulation of cortical function.

Reviewed by eLife

Cross-Species BAC Transgenesis Reveals Long-Range Regulation Drives Variation in Brain Oxytocin Receptor Expression and Social Behaviors

1. Mina Tsukamoto
2. Luis AE Nagai
3. Kiyoshi Inoue
4. Lenin C Kandasamy
5. Maria F Pires
6. Minsoo Shin
7. Yutaro Nagasawa
8. Tsetsegee Sambuu
9. Kenta Nakai
10. Shigeyoshi Itohara
11. Larry J Young
12. Qi Zhang

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This study provides important insights into how species-specific variation in oxytocin receptor regulatory architecture contributes to diversity in brain expression patterns and social behaviors. By generating multiple BAC transgenic mouse lines carrying the prairie vole oxytocin receptor locus and combining anatomical, molecular, behavioral, and chromatin-structure analyses, the authors present convincing evidence that distal regulatory elements constrain peripheral expression while permitting brain expression aligned with behavior. This study provides an experimental framework and a resource that are of value for dissecting how regulatory variation in neuromodulatory systems contributes to species differences in social behavior. This work will be of interest to those interested in social behavior, oxytocin, neuromodulation, and related conditions.

Reviewed by eLife

BlueBerry: Closed-loop wireless optogenetic manipulation in freely moving animals

1. Ali Nourizonoz
2. Benoit Girard
3. Maëlle Guyoton
4. Gregorio Galiñanes
5. Raphael Thurnherr
6. Sebastien Pellat
7. Camilla Bellone
8. Daniel Huber

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This work presents a valuable new open-source tool for wirelessly controlling optogenetic stimulation in neuroscience experiments in behaving rodents. Evidence for its potential usefulness in different types of optogenetic experiments is solid, although some details and concerns were viewed as lacking or overlooked (e.g., system latency, battery weight). The work is expected to interest neuroscientists working with optogenetics and neuroengineers developing small-sized integrated devices for rodent experiments.

Reviewed by eLife