Neuroscience

eLife assessment

This study builds upon previous results of the authors to study the neural computations within the basal ganglia that support behavioral proactive inhibition. Here, the authors identify features of neural activity in the SNr that correlate with proactive inhibition, including changes in firing rate and neural variability, and how both of these variables are influenced by an animal's outcome history. The analyses are rigorous and provide important insights into the neural dynamics in the basal ganglia that support proactive inhibition.

eLife assessment

This manuscript presents a valuable framework and blueprint for the study, in artificial systems, of the principles and mechanisms that underlie proprioception in biological systems. Using artificial neural networks trained on synthetic hand movement data, the authors present solid, albeit incomplete, evidence that action recognition can explain important features of the mechanisms that underlie proprioception in biological systems. Experiments with architectures trained using losses that, in addition to action, take into account velocity and/or other states, could strengthen the authors' findings.

eLife assessment

In peripheral nerve injury, an immune response occurs to ensure debris clean-up and potential repair, however, there has not yet been a census of cell types and gene expression as these lesions undergo clearance and eventual repair. Zhao et al generate a transcriptional resource by performing scRNAseq on both the naive, injured, and repairing sciatic nerve. They identify the composition of different cell types, gene signatures, and cell-cell communication and contrast these with signatures from the blood, and compare the injured site with distal nerve segments after injury. To dissociate the immune response from injury versus Wallerian degeneration, they use SARM1 KO mice (which exhibits delayed neurodegeneration) and observe that there is still injury-induced immune influx. Overall, this is a convincing study and useful resource for the field of neuronal repair and neural-immune interactions with a clear presentation of the animals and time points, with some follow-up experiments and validation.

eLife assessment

This manuscript uses large-scale neural imaging and network models to show how spontaneous dynamics emerge in such ensembles and how such activity influences behavior. It is a strong addition to the field for explaining many of the observed neural activity patterns and their heterogeneities.

eLife assessment

This paper is of interest for somatosensory neurobiologists studying how polymodality is achieved in peripheral sensory neurons. The work identifies roles in cold nociception and not mechanosensation in chloride transport for a number of ion channels.

eLife assessment

Wang, Carlson, and colleagues investigate sensory adaptations in the fruit pest Drosophila suzukii, which prefers ripe over overripe fruit. This study focuses on changes in sensory pathways for sugars and food texture, which may contribute to ecological shifts. Several interesting physiological and molecular adaptations are observed in D. suzukii, but it remains unclear whether these observed changes account for behavioral changes.

eLife assessment

This important work will be of interest to neuroscientists working on synaptic transmission and modulation of ion channel activity. This work provides solid evidence of how modulation of Nav1.2 channels by SUMOYLation alters the function of layer 5 pyramidal neurons, using convincing methodology that includes the use of a mouse engineered to eliminate the SUMOYLation site on Nav1.2. Some aspects need to be revised to strengthen data analysis and interpretation.

eLife assessment

Authors investigated the role of dopamine (DA) release via GRABDA in the dorsal bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (dBNST) in sign and goal tracking behavior, in response to systemic fentanyl, and to fentanyl self-administration. The behavioral experiments were well-conducted and provide novel information about BNST DA in theories of learning and reinforcement. Identified limitations had to do with acknowledgment and discussion of divergent sources of DA innervation, the low sample size in fentanyl experiments with the exclusion of a large number of animals, and a need for additional analyses of the photometry data and/or control recordings to rule out spontaneous transients in this region.

eLife assessment

This manuscript examines the inhibition of transmitter release induced by the activation of opioid receptors, both MOR and DOR, using a novel imaging method. The authors specifically examine how the inhibition of transmitter release is changed following prolonged exposure to saturating concentrations of agonists. They showed convincingly that there is a depletion of plasma membrane-associated receptors and suggest that the decline in receptors at the plasma membrane underlies presynaptic tolerance. This work addresses a long-standing question about how tolerance develops at the presynaptic level and indicates that the location of receptors is critically important in the development of tolerance. This work is fundamental and a game changer in the understanding of tolerance at the cellular level.

eLife assessment

This paper will be of interest to neuroscientists who study visual processing or are interested in dendritic integration. The authors used calcium imaging, pharmacology, and electrophysiology to investigate how a large, loom-sensitive neuron in grasshoppers integrates visual input to respond to both light and dark looming objects. These experiments support the finding that the integration is done by two distinct arbors of the neuronal dendritic tree, one of which loses retinotopic information. The authors suggest potential advantages of this dendritic arrangement.