Neuroscience

The Dual Molecular Identity of Vestibular Kinocilia: Bridging Structural and Functional Traits of Primary and Motile Cilia

1. Zhenhang Xu
2. Amirrasoul Tavakoli
3. Samadhi Kulasooriya
4. Huizhan Liu
5. Shu Tu
6. Celia Bloom
7. Yi Li
8. Tirone D Johnson
9. Jian Zuo
10. Litao Tao
11. Bechara Kachar
12. David Z He

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  Using single-cell transcriptomic data from mouse inner ear hair cells, the authors compare for the first time gene expression across the four recognized hair cell types in adults, generating information fundamental to understanding hair cell relationships between the ancient vestibular compartment and the more recent cochlea. Among observed differences, compelling evidence is provided for the expression in vestibular hair cells but not cochlear hair cells of certain ciliary motility-related genes, suggesting that the kinocilium of vestibular hair cells may function as an active force generator to increase sensitivity.

Reviewed by eLife

Hugin-AstA circuitry is a novel central energy sensor that directly regulates sweet sensation in Drosophila and mouse

1. Wusa Qin
2. Tingting Song
3. Zeliang Lai
4. Daihan Li
5. Liming Wang
6. Rui Huang

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This important work delineates layered glucose-responsive neuropeptidergic mechanisms that regulate sugar intake. Using a combination of genetic, physiological, and behavioral experiments, the authors convincingly show that Hugin- and Allatostatin A-releasing neurons suppress sugar feeding by reducing the sensitivity of Gr5a-expressing gustatory neurons. They further demonstrate that Neuromedin U neurons share key physiological properties with fly Hugin neurons, highlighting conserved peptide functions across animal phyla.

Reviewed by eLife

Excitatory cholecystokinin neurons in CA3 area regulate the navigation learning and neuroplasticity

1. Fengwen Huang
2. Abdul Baset
3. Stephen Temitayo Bello

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This study presents data suggesting that excitatory cholecystokinin (CCK)-expressing neurons in hippocampal area CA3 influence hippocampal-dependent memory using multiple methods to manipulate excitatory CCK-expressing CA3 neurons. The study is valuable, particularly considering that most past studies of CCK-expressing neurons have focused on those neurons that co-express CCK and GABA. Currently, the strength of evidence is incomplete, but it would improve if evidence of specificity was provided and other concerns were addressed. If this is not possible, the conclusions, particularly those requiring evidence of specific targeting of excitatory neurons, should be modified accordingly.

Reviewed by eLife

Subregional activity in the dentate gyrus is amplified during elevated cognitive demands

1. Charlotte CM Castillon
2. Shintaro Otsuka
3. John N Armstrong
4. Anis Contractor

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This manuscript presents a valuable study of the activity and functional relevance of different circuits in the dentate gyrus of mice performing a pattern separation task. Solid evidence is presented to support the paper's central conclusions. The study is likely to be of interest to those studying the subregional organization and cell type-specific functions of the dentate gyrus.

Reviewed by eLife

Enhanced Tactile Coding in Rat Neocortex Under Darkness

1. Kotaro Yamashiro
2. Shiyori Tanaka
3. Nobuyoshi Matsumoto
4. Yuji Ikegaya

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This study presents valuable findings and employs modern analytical approaches on how transient absence of visual input (darkness) affects tactile encoding in the rat somatosensory cortex (S1). The evidence supporting the authors' claims is solid, as population-level neural activity recorded in S1 and decoded by a CNN carries more discriminable texture information in darkness. The underlying basis of this effect remains only partly resolved, however, because it is still unclear which neural features from the CNN drive the decoding and if visual interference is appropriately accounted for, which might confound true neural representational change.

Reviewed by eLife

Esr1-Dependent Signaling and Transcriptional Maturation in the Medial Preoptic Area of the Hypothalamus Shapes the Development of Mating Behavior during Adolescence

1. Koichi Hashikawa
2. Yoshiko Hashikawa
3. Brandy Briones
4. Kentaro Ishii
5. Yuejia Liu
6. Mark A Rossi
7. Marcus L Basiri
8. Jane Y Chen
9. Omar R Ahmad
10. Rishi V Mukundan
11. Nathan L Johnston
12. Rhiana C Simon
13. James C Soetedjo
14. Jason R Siputro
15. Jenna A McHenry
16. Richard D Palmiter
17. David R Rubinow
18. Larry S Zweifel
19. Garret D Stuber

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  The authors test the hypothesis that gonadal steroid signaling influences the transcriptional development of specific neurons in the mPOA during adolescence, and that such adolescent development of the mPOA is necessary for mating behaviors. The valuable findings are supported by convincing evidence. This work contributes new insight into hormone-sensitive transcriptional profiles within genetically defined neuron clusters in the mPOA during adolescence and will be of interest to systems and molecular neuroscientists and those interested in development, sex differences, and/or hormonal regulation.

Reviewed by eLife

Human Assembloid Model of Emergent Neurotropic Enteroviruses

1. Christine E. Peters
2. Jimena Andersen
3. Min-Yin Li
4. Lauren Varanese
5. Mayuri Vijay Thete
6. Se-Jin Yoon
7. Taylor Pio
8. Nicholas Thom
9. Xiaoyu Chen
10. Wenjie Qiao
11. Jan E. Carette
12. Sergiu P. Paşca

Reviewed by preLights

A behavioral architecture for realistic simulations of Drosophila larva locomotion and foraging

1. Panagiotis Sakagiannis
2. Anna-Maria Jürgensen
3. Martin Paul Nawrot

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This valuable study presents a hierarchical computational model that integrates locomotion, navigation, and learning in Drosophila larvae. The evidence supporting the model is convincing, as it qualitatively replicates empirical behavioral data. While some simplifications in neuromechanical representation and sensory-motor integration are limiting factors, the reported modular framework will be of interest for computational modeling of biological movement and adaptive behavior.

Reviewed by eLife

Adrenomedullin restores the human cortical interneurons migration defects induced by hypoxia

1. Alyssa Puno
2. Wojciech P Michno
3. Li Li
4. Amanda Everitt
5. Kate McCluskey
6. Saw Htun
7. Dhriti Nagar
8. Jong Bin Choi
9. Yuqin Dai
10. Seyeon Park
11. Emily Gurwitz
12. A Jeremy Willsey
13. Fikri Birey
14. Anca M Pasca

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  The authors combined human assembloids, fetal brain tissue, bulk and single cell RNA sequencing, and live imaging to understand the molecular mechanisms affected by hypoxia during cortical development. The findings are very important to the neurodevelopmental field, They reveal new insights into how migration of cortical interneurons can be affected in hypoxic conditions, and provide exciting models to probe broad neurodevelopmental processes in health and disease. The evidence is compelling. The data and analyses are very rigorous and go beyond the state-of-the-art.

Reviewed by eLife

Hierarchical cortical plasticity in congenital sight impairment

1. Roni O Maimon-Mor
2. Mahtab Farahbakhsh
3. Nicholas Hedger
4. Andrew T Rider
5. Elaine J Anderson
6. Geraint Rees
7. Tomas Knapen
8. Michel Michaelides
9. Tessa M Dekker

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This important study examines the stability and compensatory plasticity in the retinotopic mapping in patients with congenital achromatopsia. It provides convincing evidence for a stable mapping of the visual field in V1, alongside changes of the readout from V1 into V3, which shows revised receptive field location and size. This paper would be of interest to scientists studying the visual system, brain plasticity, and development.

Reviewed by eLife