Neuroscience

Evaluation Summary:

Kikumoto and colleagues explore the question of how stimulus- and response-related mental representations are stored and selected in working memory. The authors use a combination of decoding and representational similarity analysis on EEG data to provide evidence for conjunctive representations of action plans. This work would potentially be of great interest to readers in the field of working memory, motor preparation, and selective attention.

(This preprint has been reviewed by eLife. We include the public reviews from the reviewers here; the authors also receive private feedback with suggested changes to the manuscript. Reviewer #2 agreed to share their name with the authors.)

Evaluation Summary:

This paper presents an exploitation/exploration paradigm using a model-based approach in 18 patients treated with GPi DBS for Tourette's syndrome. Their main observation is that despite DBS (used as a proxy of GPi inhibition) doesn't have any effect on the overall performance of the subjects, it has a significant effect on the probability of exploration. This work will be interesting for scientists working in fundamental and clinical neurosciences.

(This preprint has been reviewed by eLife. We include the public reviews from the reviewers here; the authors also receive private feedback with suggested changes to the manuscript. The reviewers remained anonymous to the authors.)

Evaluation Summary:

This manuscript is of broad interest to readers in the field of Alzheimer's disease, neurodegeneration, and single-cell omics. The identification of shared pathways across different cell types and ages is an important contribution to our understanding of APOE4 gene regulation in a cell type-specific manner. A combination of snRNAseq in APOE mouse models and human iPSC cells supports the key claims in the paper.

(This preprint has been reviewed by eLife. We include the public reviews from the reviewers here; the authors also receive private feedback with suggested changes to the manuscript. The reviewers remained anonymous to the authors.)

Evaluation Summary:

This study presents novel experimental data from a mutant mouse model lacking microglia (Pu.1-/- mouse line), indicating that these cells have an important role in the embryonic establishment of critical neural circuits in the brainstem generating breathing motor behavior in mice. This paper is of interest to scientists within the field of microglia as well as respiratory neurobiology as it provides original key information about a new role of microglia in the embryonic development of respiratory circuits. Overall, the data are clearly presented and rigorous. Some of the conclusions should be toned down as the data in another microglia depletion model do not support some claims of the paper.

(This preprint has been reviewed by eLife. We include the public reviews from the reviewers here; the authors also receive private feedback with suggested changes to the manuscript. Reviewer #1 and Reviewer #3 agreed to share their name with the authors.)

Evaluation Summary:

The current manuscript presents a computational model of numerosity estimation. The model relies on center-surround contrast filters at different spatial scales with divisive normalization between their responses. Using dot arrays as visual stimuli, it is shown that the summed normalized responses of the filters are sensitive to numerosity and insensitive to the low-level visual features of dot size and spacing. Importantly, the model provides an explanation of various spatial and temporal illusions in visual numerosity perception.

(This preprint has been reviewed by eLife. We include the public reviews from the reviewers here; the authors also receive private feedback with suggested changes to the manuscript. Reviewer #2 agreed to share their name with the authors.)

Evaluation Summary:

This manuscript reports that Epac2, a downstream effector of cAMP, positively regulates cocaine reward by altering dopamine release properties in the striatum. These results provide insight into Epac2 as a potential presynaptic molecular target through which dopamine signaling and drug taking might be manipulated and is of interest to scientists studying dopamine transmission and substance use disorders.

(This preprint has been reviewed by eLife. We include the public reviews from the reviewers here; the authors also receive private feedback with suggested changes to the manuscript. Reviewer #1 agreed to share their name with the authors.)

Evaluation Summary:

This manuscript provides new insights into one of the most enigmatic brain regions; the posterior cingulate cortex. Using electrophysiological recordings from dorsal and ventral PCC subregions, the authors provide evidence for a dorsal-executive and ventral-episodic functional subdivision. This paper will be of high interest to a broad range of neuroscientists.

(This preprint has been reviewed by eLife. We include the public reviews from the reviewers here; the authors also receive private feedback with suggested changes to the manuscript. Reviewer #2 and Reviewer #3 agreed to share their name with the authors.)

Evaluation Summary:

This paper is of interest to neuroscientists studying the organization of neural activity and of behavior. The authors link the apparently scale-free distributions of behavioral metrics with scale-free distributions of neural activity, and then explore computationally mechanistic models that could account for these observations. While the alternative view set up in the introduction - that scale-free neural activity is "'background activity', not linked to behavior" - is perhaps overly simplistic, the analysis is thorough, and the mechanistic insights garnered from the computational modeling are intriguing.

(This preprint has been reviewed by eLife. We include the public reviews from the reviewers here; the authors also receive private feedback with suggested changes to the manuscript. Reviewer #1 agreed to share their name with the authors.)

Evaluation Summary:

The authors use a mouse stroke model to address a potential cellular source of functional recovery. Using multiple lineage tracing paradigms, they show that undifferentiated progenitor cells that migrate from the subventricular zone produce trophic factors including VEGF that promote functional and cellular recovery. These findings will be of interest to the neuroscience community, and those who study neural repair.

(This preprint has been reviewed by eLife. We include the public reviews from the reviewers here; the authors also receive private feedback with suggested changes to the manuscript. Reviewer #1 and Reviewer #2 agreed to share their name with the authors.)

Evaluation Summary:

In this study, the authors assess the decline of retinal function in a mouse model of slow photoreceptor degeneration. The authors use a linear-nonlinear receptive field model to characterize functional changes across some RGC populations and information theory to assess the fidelity of RGC signaling. They show remarkable preservation of cone-driven ganglion cell light responses in advanced stages of a retinitis pigmentosa model when most rods have died, and cone morphologies are dramatically altered. The results are presented clearly in the text and figures and are scholarly discussed. However, there are several technical and conceptual concerns with the conclusions that can be drawn.

(This preprint has been reviewed by eLife. We include the public reviews from the reviewers here; the authors also receive private feedback with suggested changes to the manuscript. The reviewers remained anonymous to the authors.)