Neuroscience

Evaluation Summary:

In the present manuscript by Blake et al., the investigators show that myocardial infarction (MI) leads to increased sulfation of CSPGs in the cardiac scar. The investigators subsequently demonstrate that reducing sulfation with a sulfatase, arylsulfatase B (ARSB), promotes sympathetic neurite growth in vitro and ex vivo in a co-culture system. This paper provides interesting results regarding neural remodeling of the heart and has implications for visceral innervation in health and disease. This work is important in highlighting the role of neural-myocardial interactions after MI and offering a potential pathway to target in preventing post-MI sudden cardiac death.

(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, Reviewer #2 and Reviewer #4 agreed to share their name with the authors.)

Evaluation Summary:

This study investigates oculomotor behavior of cortically-blind patients (with lesions in area V1) performing a saccade and ocular following response toward a cued moving target placed either in their intact or in their blind visual field. Whereas perceptual training led to a good recovery of perceptual performance in the blind field, the ocular following response did not appear to benefit from this training. The authors conclude that V1 lesions result in impaired transmission of signals selectively driving the ocular following response. The manuscript is based on a valuable patient dataset, well written and illustrated, and will be of potential interest to a broad readership of vision scientists, neuroscientists, and clinical neurologists. However, some major weaknesses in the analysis and interpretation of data call into question the conclusion that the selective eye movement deficit reveals a true perception-action dissociation.

(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 paper is of potential interest to psychologists and cognitive neuroscientists studying learning, decision-making, belief formation and metacognition. The authors use a clever, elegant task in which people make decisions with or without control over the information they sample, and link the cognitive processes at play to MEG and pupillometry signatures. The key finding is that when participants have control over information sampling (i.e. are seeking information), they need more contradictory evidence in order to switch their choices, and such switches are made with lower confidence. Anticipatory suppression of alpha-band activity in occipital and frontal regions occurred prior to decision switches, while pupil dilation increased post-switch. The authors propose a computational model to account for behavioral differences between conditions. However, some of the conclusions may not be fully supported by the data and alternative interpretations are possible; therefore further analyses are required to bolster the authors' claims.

(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 study is of great interest to a broad group of neuroscientists including those studying plasticity in the nervous system and in neurodevelopmental disorders such as autism. The current work illustrates the importance of protein phosphorylation in regulating a form of homeostatic plasticity known as synaptic scaling, which has been associated with different neurodevelopmental disorders. In particular, the authors provide compelling evidence that the phosphorylation state of one synaptic scaffolding protein, Shank 3, is a necessary part of a complex signaling pathway mediating synaptic scaling and thus could be therapeutically useful for certain associated 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 #3 agreed to share their name with the authors.)

Evaluation Summary:

This study uses both humans and rats to demonstrate that the level of glutathione in the nucleus accumbens correlates with effortful behaviors. The authors provide causal evidence for glutathione in rats by manipulating enzymes involved in the synthesis of glutathione. Although how exactly glutathione regulates effort-related behavior remains to be clarified, overall, the study gives convincing evidence for an important role of glutathione in nucleus accumbens in regulating the willingness to invest effort to obtain reward or escape an aversive situation.

(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.)

Evaluation Summary:

Synaptic connections are crucial for determining neural circuit function and for storing adaptive changes in the brain. This study performs a highly detailed quantitative analysis of certain excitatory connections in mouse neocortex, and finds that the physical size of these connections has a bimodal distribution. This is an important finding that has implications for our understanding of synaptic plasticity and neural circuit dynamics.

(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 names with the authors.)

Evaluation Summary:

This paper, of interest to neuroscientists in the field of memory engrams, presents novel insights to understand the complex functional network connected with the prefrontal cortex that shape memory-related neuronal ensembles and modulate memory formation in a time-dependent manner. The large data set due to the systematic approach yielded transparent, well analyzed, and clearly presented data. Still, the conclusions require additional support and extended discussion.

(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 study establishes for the first time that selective auditory attention reduces activity in the auditory cortex, similar to effects produced by engagement in a behavioral task. Moreover the study establishes the diversity of cortical modulations generated by 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 #1 agreed to share their name with the authors.)

Evaluation Summary:

This manuscript uses a combination of in vitro and in vivo approaches and uncovers a potential mechanism of autocrine/paracrine signaling in oligodendrocyte maturation, which provides an exciting avenue for future investigation. In particular, the authors examined the role of oligodendroglial exocytosis, and specifically the role of L-type prostaglandin D synthase (LPGDS), in modulating oligodendrocyte differentiation and myelination. This work will be of interest to glial and myelin disease researchers.

(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:

This manuscript presents a novel EEG-based, real-time feedback approach that enables healthy participants to independently self-regulate excitability of the left versus the right hemisphere. Using this unique approach, the authors demonstrate that their paradigm could have the potential to modulate the neural interplay between both hemispheres which is relevant for the field of neurorehabilitation.

(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.)