Neuroscience

Evaluation Summary:

Bräcklein et al. provide compelling data suggesting that humans cannot learn to independently control multiple motor units innervating a single lower-limb muscle. These results suggest that common drive to motor units, along with the classical size-recruitment order, will impose strong constraints on the use of high-resolution muscle recordings for controlling brain-computer interfaces. Additional analysis related to task construction and motor unit identification/sorting is required to justify this claim.

(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 is an interesting article studying human color perception using MEG. The specific aim was to study differences in color perception related to different S-, M-, and L-cone excitation levels and especially whether red color is perceived differentially to other colors. The study addresses an interesting question. The methods are strong. The data broadly support the conclusion, although some additional analyses would offer further support.

(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 manuscript by Nagaraja et al. examines the synapse-specificity of alpha-synuclein aggregation and corresponding circuit dysfunction in the amygdala. Using confocal microscopy and slice electrophysiology, along with alpha-synuclein knockout mice and preformed fibrils, the authors demonstrate that cortico-amygdala, but not thalamo-amygdala, inputs are more vulnerable to alpha-synuclein aggregation and corresponding synaptic dysfunction. This has important implications for the etiology of psychiatric deficits that are common in Parkinson's disease.

(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:

The question addressed in this manuscript is of potential interest for neurodevelopmental biologists studying the role of molecular factors released from thalamocortical axons in the establishment of cortical layers. The work clarifies the contribution of distinct thalamic secretory proteins in cortical development. Overall, although the data are properly controlled and analyzed, there are several aspects of the manuscript that need to be addressed and improved to support the conclusions raised by the authors.

(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 #3 agreed to share their name with the authors.)

Evaluation Summary:

This study investigates the mechanisms by which distributed systems control rhythmic movements of different speeds. The authors train an artificial recurrent neural network to produce the muscle activity patterns that monkeys generate when performing an arm cycling task at different speeds. The dominant patterns in the neural network do not directly reflect muscle activity and these dominant patterns do a better job than muscle activity at capturing key features of neural activity recorded from the monkey motor cortex in the same task. The manuscript is easy to read and the data and modelling are intriguing and well done. Further work should better explain some of the neural network assumptions and how these assumptions relate to the treatment of the empirical data and its interpretation.

(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 reports ageing associated decline in coordinated whole brain dynamics of the nematode C. elegans. It is interesting to a broad range of scientists studying neuronal circuit dynamics, the processes of ageing and neurodegenerative diseases. The work provides an impressive amount of whole brain imaging experiments and is the first single cell resolution whole brain imaging study in any organism that reports how whole brain dynamics change over the course of ageing.

(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 work generates helpful new data on the network of brain areas employed for listening to speech in cochlear implant users. This is a difficult undertaking because functional MR is not possible in this group. The work uses a new type of near infrared spectroscopy to obtain measures related to brain activity in superficial areas and shows increased activity in frontal areas during speech 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 #1 and Reviewer #2 agreed to share their name with the authors.)

Evaluation Summary:

This paper by Wiltbank et al. "Cd59 and inflammation orchestrate Schwann cell development" investigates the function of the small GPI-anchored protein Cd59, a protein known to suppress complement mediated inflammation, in Schwann cell development and myelination, using zebrafish as a model system. This paper will be of broad interest to developmental biologists, glial biologists and immunologists, as it suggests the interesting and novel findings that Cd59 regulates Schwann cell development, mainly by modulating Schwann cell proliferation.

(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:

In this paper the authors test three hypotheses: 1) INap and ICAN blockade alter network excitability in the preBötC, the region of the brainstem that generates inspiratory breathing rhythm; 2) that INaP is essential for preBötC rhythmogenesis; 3) ICAN is essential for generating the amplitude of rhythmic output but not rhythm generation. They test these hypotheses using optogenetic manipulation of local preBötC excitability and the use of pharmacologic blockade of INaP and ICAN. This manuscript provides substantive evidence for the role of INaP in modulating breathing frequency and ICAN in altering amplitude with some interesting boundary conditions when ICAN and INaP are selectively blocked and tests predictions about these currents using computational simulation.

(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 names with the authors.)

Evaluation Summary:

In this impressive manuscript the authors study the similarities and differences between the molecules that comprise the insulation that surrounds human brain nerve fibers (myelin), providing essential insight into how to interpret studies of myelin, from the perspective of different species. In all, this manuscript provides a new resource that will be of interest to the myelin community as well as investigators examining the contributions of oligodendrocytes to human neurodegenerative disease.

(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 names with the authors.)