Neuroscience

Dynamic control of sequential retrieval speed in networks with heterogeneous learning rules

1. Maxwell Gillett
2. Nicolas Brunel

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  The authors provide a valuable analysis of what neural circuit mechanisms enable varying the speed of retrieval of sequences, which is needed in situations such as reproducing motor patterns. Their use of heterogeneous plasticity rules to allow external currents to control speed of sequence recall is a novel alternative to other mechanisms proposed in the literature. They perform a convincing characterization of relevant properties of recall via simulations and theory, though a better mapping to biologically plausible mechanisms is left for future work.

Reviewed by eLife

Cholinergic input to mouse visual cortex signals a movement state and acutely enhances layer 5 responsiveness

1. Baba Yogesh
2. Georg B Keller

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This fundamental study by Yogesh and Keller provides a set of results describing the response properties of cholinergic input and its functional impacts in the mouse visual cortex. They found that cholinergic inputs are elevated by locomotion in a binary manner regardless of locomotor speeds, and activation of cholinergic input differently modulated the activity of Later 2/3 and Layer 5 visual cortex neurons induced by bottom-up (visual stimuli) and top-down (visuomotor mismatch) inputs. The experiments are cutting-edge and well-executed, and the results are convincing.

Reviewed by eLife

Infralimbic parvalbumin neural activity facilitates cued threat avoidance

1. Yi-Yun Ho
2. Qiuwei Yang
3. Priyanka Boddu
4. David A Bulkin
5. Melissa R Warden

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This important study extends our understanding of how the medial prefrontal cortex regulates flexible action during adversity. The data provide compelling evidence of a role for prefrontal PV neuron activity in active avoidance. This builds on the general idea that these neurons play a role in flexible behavior and demonstrates this in the context of freezing/avoidance conflict. The overall findings contribute to our understanding of mechanisms that support aversively motivated instrumental learning and may provide insight into both stress vulnerability and resilience processes. This work will be of interest to those interested in learning, aversive motivation, interneuron and/or prefrontal cortex function, or conditions relates to these processes and mechanisms.

Reviewed by eLife

Sex differences in discrimination behavior and orbitofrontal engagement during context-gated reward prediction

1. Sophie Peterson
2. Amanda Maheras
3. Brenda Wu
4. Jose Chavira
5. Ronald Keiflin

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This valuable manuscript reveals sex differences in bi-conditional Pavlovian learning and conditional behavior. Males learn hierarchical context-cue-outcome associations more quickly, but females show more stable and robust task performance. These sex differences are related to cellular activation in the orbitofrontal cortex. Although the evidence supporting these claims is convincing, some assertions of sex differences in context-dependent discrimination behaviour may be slightly overstated yet have strong potential to guide future research to clarify the nature of these differences. The results will be of interest to many behavioural neuroscientists, particularly those who investigate sex-specific behaviours.

Reviewed by eLife

Cell-type-specific origins of locomotor rhythmicity at different speeds in larval zebrafish

1. Moneeza A Agha
2. Sandeep Kishore
3. David L McLean

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  In this fundamental study, authors present compelling evidence for the diversity in cellular and synaptic properties of one class of spinal interneurons and tie it to their differentiated role in locomotor pattern generation. The findings reported here will be of broad interest to neuroscientists in general and to motor systems scientists in particular.

Reviewed by eLife

Human EEG and artificial neural networks reveal disentangled representations of object real-world size in natural images

1. Zitong Lu
2. Julie D Golomb

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This useful study measured how information about object categories varies with time in EEG responses to object images in human participants and found that real-world size, retinal size, and real-world depth are represented at different time points in the response. The evidence presented is incomplete and can be further strengthened by removing confounds related to other covarying properties such as semantic categories, and by clarifying the partial correlations that are used to support the conclusions.

Reviewed by eLife

A Kv2 inhibitor combination reveals native neuronal conductances consistent with Kv2/KvS heteromers

1. Robert G Stewart
2. Matthew James Marquis
3. Sooyeon Jo
4. Aman Aberra
5. Verity Cook
6. Zachary Whiddon
7. Michael Ferns
8. Jon T Sack

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  Some delayed rectifier currents in neurons are formed by the combination of Kv2 and silent subunits, KvS. However, we lack the tools to identify these heteromeric channels in vivo. In this valuable study by the Sack group, the authors identify a pharmacological tool that can reveal the presence of KvS subunits as components of the delayed rectifier potassium currents in selected neurons. The experimental evidence presented in the manuscript is compelling and represents an advance that should be of interest to a wide community of neuroscientists and channel physiologists.

Reviewed by eLife

Mining the neuroimaging literature

1. Jérôme Dockès
2. Kendra Oudyk
3. Mohammad Torabi
4. Alejandro I de la Vega
5. Jean-Baptiste Poline

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  The study presents an important ecosystem designed to support literature mining in biomedical research, showcasing a methodological framework that includes tools like Pubget for article collection and labelbuddy for text annotation. The solid evidence presented for these tools suggests they could streamline the analysis and annotation of scientific literature, potentially benefiting research across a range of biomedical disciplines. While the primary focus is on neuroimaging literature, the applicability of these methods and tools might extend further, offering an advance in the practices of meta-research and literature mining.

Reviewed by eLife

Cortical plasticity is associated with blood–brain barrier modulation

1. Evyatar Swissa
2. Uri Monsonego
3. Lynn T Yang
4. Lior Schori
5. Lyna Kamintsky
6. Sheida Mirloo
7. Itamar Burger
8. Sarit Uzzan
9. Rishi Patel
10. Peter H Sudmant
11. Ofer Prager
12. Daniela Kaufer
13. Alon Friedman

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This study builds upon previous work which demonstrated that brain injury results in the entry of a protein called albumin into the brain which then causes diverse effects. The present study shows that prolonged stimulation of a forelimb in a rat leads to albumin entry, and is associated with effects that suggest plasticity is enhanced in the stimulated side of the brain. The strength of evidence was convincing and results are important because they suggest a previously-considered pathological process may be relevant to the normal brain and have benefits.

Reviewed by eLife

An Alzheimer’s disease-associated common regulatory variant in a PTK2B intron alters microglial function

1. Erica Bello
2. Kathleen Long
3. Sho Iwama
4. Juliette Steer
5. Sarah Cooper
6. Kaur Alasoo
7. Natsuhiko Kumasaka
8. Jeremy Schwartzentruber
9. Nikolaos I Panousis
10. Andrew Bassett

Reviewed by Review Commons