Neuroscience

Nonlinear transient amplification in recurrent neural networks with short-term plasticity

1. Yue Kris Wu
2. Friedemann Zenke

• Curated by eLife

  Evaluation Summary:

  Networks of excitatory neurons in the mammalian cortex are capable of responding rapidly and selectively to incoming stimuli. This rapid response is believed to be due to positive feedback among excitatory cells, which necessitates a stabilizing mechanism at circuit and cellular levels. This modelling study shows how short term plasticity at synapses can stabilize the response of a recurrently connected circuit of excitatory and inhibitory cells, whereas intrinsic spike frequency adaptation is unable to stabilise network responses. These findings deepen our understanding of the various mechanisms that can stabilise circuit dynamics and will be of broad interest to neurophysiologists and theoretical 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. The reviewers remained anonymous to the authors.)

Reviewed by eLife

Learning differentially shapes prefrontal and hippocampal activity during classical conditioning

1. Jan L Klee
2. Bryan C Souza
3. Francesco P Battaglia

• Curated by eLife

  Evaluation Summary:

  The hippocampal CA1 area and the PFC are extensively studied in spatial navigation tasks but relatively less investigated in non-spatial, classical conditioning tasks. The different dynamics between CA1 and PFC during the trace and inter-trial interval periods identified here are insightful. Also, the ensemble reactivation during explicitly non-spatial tasks is novel and fills a critical gap in knowledge. However, the current form does not highlight these novel findings or does not make a strong case on how they contribute to learning. Furthermore, there are a number of experimental and analytical issues that need to be addressed.

  (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.)

Reviewed by eLife

The Importance of Semantic Network Brain Regions in Integrating Prior Knowledge with an Ongoing Dialogue

1. Petar P. Raykov
2. James L. Keidel
3. Jane Oakhill
4. Chris M. Bird

Reviewed by ScreenIT

Widespread nociceptive maps in the human neonatal somatosensory cortex

1. Laura Jones
2. Madeleine Verriotis
3. Robert J Cooper
4. Maria Pureza Laudiano-Dray
5. Mohammed Rupawala
6. Judith Meek
7. Lorenzo Fabrizi
8. Maria Fitzgerald

• Curated by eLife

  Evaluation Summary:

  This paper is of interest to developmental neuroscientists who study the early stages of cortical maturation and specialization, particularly in the context of somatosensory and pain system development. The authors suggest that, relative to the infant touch somatotopic map, the infant nociceptive map is more widespread and poorly localised, consistent with infants' poorly directed pain behaviour. However, there are differences in the the implementation of touch and pain conditions and concerns around the analyses that limit support for this 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.)

Reviewed by eLife

Repair of noise-induced damage to stereocilia F-actin cores is facilitated by XIRP2 and its novel mechanosensor domain

1. Elizabeth L Wagner
2. Jun-Sub Im
3. Stefano Sala
4. Maura I Nakahata
5. Terence E Imbery
6. Sihan Li
7. Daniel Chen
8. Katherine Nimchuk
9. Yael Noy
10. David W Archer
11. Wenhao Xu
12. George Hashisaki
13. Karen B Avraham
14. Patrick W Oakes
15. Jung-Bum Shin

• Curated by eLife

  Evaluation Summary:

  This study investigates a process by which hair cell stereocilia, the sensory structures that respond to sound in the hearing organ and to head motion or tilt in the vestibular organ, can recover from damage-induced gaps in their actin core, possibly allowing for the rescue of transient hearing loss after exposure to noise. This manuscript will be of strong interest to the inner ear field as well as readers with broader interest in actin cytoskeleton dynamics. Although meticulous controls, a combination of molecular, histological and functional studies and an innovative mouse model generally support the major conclusions of this study, additional controls are needed to confirm the mechanistic claims made in the manuscript.

  (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.)

Reviewed by eLife

Standardizing workflows in imaging transcriptomics with the abagen toolbox

1. Ross D Markello
2. Aurina Arnatkeviciute
3. Jean-Baptiste Poline
4. Ben D Fulcher
5. Alex Fornito
6. Bratislav Misic

• Curated by eLife

  Evaluation Summary:

  This paper will be of interest to scientists studying the large-scale transcriptomic organization of the human brain, and in particular those who have used or plan to use the Allen Human Brain Atlas dataset. The study is well-motivated and novel. The most striking finding is the magnitude of variability that is introduced by different data-processing decisions. The open-source software described in this study is an important contribution to the field and will be of broad utility.

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

Reviewed by eLife

Cell-type-specific responses to associative learning in the primary motor cortex

1. Candice Lee
2. Emerson F Harkin
3. Xuming Yin
4. Richard Naud
5. Simon Chen

• Curated by eLife

  Evaluation Summary:

  Using advanced live brain imaging techniques, the authors studied the activities of neurons in the primary motor cortex of mice during a classical conditional task, in which a tone is paired with water reward. They found that distinct types of neurons respond differently to the auditory cue or the reward, and the responses evolve differentially as learning proceeds. This work reveals an interesting role of the motor cortex beyond its well-recognized function in motor control, and suggests distinct functions of pyramidal neurons as well as various interneurons in reinforcement learning.

  (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.)

Reviewed by eLife

Neuronal activity in dorsal anterior cingulate cortex during economic choices under variable action costs

1. Xinying Cai
2. Camillo Padoa-Schioppa

• Curated by eLife

  Evaluation Summary:

  This manuscript examines how effort is integrated into economic decisions by recording neural activity from the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) in monkeys, while requiring animals to choose between different juice types offered in variable amounts and with different action costs. The ACC is a relevant area because some theories have suggested it is important for evaluating or selecting among potential actions during decision-making, although evidence supporting this idea has been inconsistent. The main results provide evidence against the notion that ACC contributes to evaluation of potential actions. Instead, neurons predominantly coded for post-decision variables, such as cost of the chosen target and the juice type of the chosen offer, but not pre-decision variables, such as offer values. This is in contrast to OFC encoding in the same task (and same subjects), in which neurons encoded the effort associated with choice options. The authors conclude that ACC is unique in representing more post-decision variables than OFC, and in its encoding of outcomes in several reference frames (chosen juice, chosen cost, and chosen action). Together, the results are convincing and highlight potentially unique roles of ACC neurons in learning and decision making.

  (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.)

Reviewed by eLife

Neurotoxin-mediated potent activation of the axon degeneration regulator SARM1

1. Andrea Loreto
2. Carlo Angeletti
3. Weixi Gu
4. Andrew Osborne
5. Bart Nieuwenhuis
6. Jonathan Gilley
7. Elisa Merlini
8. Peter Arthur-Farraj
9. Adolfo Amici
10. Zhenyao Luo
11. Lauren Hartley-Tassell
12. Thomas Ve
13. Laura M Desrochers
14. Qi Wang
15. Bostjan Kobe
16. Giuseppe Orsomando
17. Michael P Coleman

• Curated by eLife

  Evaluation Summary:

  This paper explores the mechanism of vacor toxicity in neurons. The authors provide exciting and definitive data that vacor drives neurodegeneration by direct binding and activation of SARM1, a potent regulator of axon death. The work elucidates the vacor mechanism of action, provides strong in vitro and in vivo data that toxicity is entirely dependent on SARM1, and will advance the field in terms of how we understand vacor-induced toxicity, and provides a new model for testing anti-SARM1 therapeutics.

  (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.)

Reviewed by eLife

Lactate is an energy substrate for rodent cortical neurons and enhances their firing activity

1. Anastassios Karagiannis
2. Thierry Gallopin
3. Alexandre Lacroix
4. Fabrice Plaisier
5. Juliette Piquet
6. Hélène Geoffroy
7. Régine Hepp
8. Jérémie Naudé
9. Benjamin Le Gac
10. Richard Egger
11. Bertrand Lambolez
12. Dongdong Li
13. Jean Rossier
14. Jochen F Staiger
15. Hiromi Imamura
16. Susumu Seino
17. Jochen Roeper
18. Bruno Cauli

• Curated by eLife

  Evaluation Summary:

  This is a rigorous study that confirms the existence of functional KATP and dominant oxidative metabolism in several types of juvenile somatosensory cortical neurons. The authors present multiple lines of experimental results examining the effects of lactate on neocortical neuron types. They also report a mechanism by which lactate is likely to enhance neuronal firing. The data is convincing in supporting the conclusions in the manuscript.

  (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.)

Reviewed by eLife