Neuroscience

Trial-by-trial inter-areal interactions in visual cortex in the presence or absence of visual stimulation

1. Dianna Hidalgo
2. Giorgia Dellaferrera
3. Giordano Ramos-Traslosheros
4. Will Xiao
5. Carlos R Ponce
6. Maria Papadopouli
7. Stelios Smirnakis
8. Gabriel Kreiman

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This study investigates trial-by-trial intra- and inter-cortical interactions in the visual cortex of the mouse and the monkey. The authors find that activity in one layer (in mice) or one area (in monkeys) can partially predict neural activity in another layer or area on the single-trial level in different experimental contexts. This valuable finding expands previously known contributions of stimulus-independent downstream activity to neural responses in the visual cortex by demonstrating how these change under varying visual stimuli as well as in the absence of visual stimulation. While the methodology is solid, the juxtaposition of mouse and monkey data from different modalities and at difference scales limits the interpretability of the observations and forces superficial comparisons. More in-depth focus on either data set in isolation may reveal more nuanced understanding of cortical interactions rather than trying to draw parallels between very different datasets.

Reviewed by eLife

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

1. Maik C. Stüttgen

Reviewed by Peer Community in Neuroscience

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

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