Neuroscience

A causal role of the NMDA receptor in recurrent processing during perceptual integration

1. Samuel Noorman
2. Timo Stein
3. Jasper Zantvoord
4. Johannes Fahrenfort
5. Simon van Gaal

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This study presents a new, fundamental finding to the field interested in recurrent processing and its neuromodulatory underpinnings, finding unexpectedly that memantine (blocking NMDA-receptors) enhances the decoding of features thought to rely on NMDA-receptors. This interesting, compelling result identifies new directions for researchers studying consciousness, sensory processing, attention, and neurotransmitters.

Reviewed by eLife

Analyzing neural response to visual stimuli: Firing rates, frequency band dynamics, and synchrony in near and far flanker conditions

1. Manjeet Kunwar
2. Nabin Bhusal
3. Niraj Dhital

Reviewed by PREreview

Homeostatic synaptic plasticity of miniature excitatory postsynaptic currents in mouse cortical cultures requires neuronal Rab3a

1. Andrew G Koesters
2. Mark M Rich
3. Kathrin Engisch

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This valuable study presents findings on the role of the small GTPase Rab3A in homeostatic plasticity. While the study provides solid evidence for a requirement of Rab3A in homeostatic up-scaling in cultured mouse neurons, it does not provide a model of how Rab3A is involved in homeostatic plasticity. The work will be of interest to researchers in the field of synaptic transmission and synaptic plasticity.

Reviewed by eLife

The information bottleneck as a principle underlying multi-area cortical representations during decision-making

1. Michael Kleinman
2. Tian Wang
3. Derek Xiao
4. Ebrahim Feghhi
5. Kenji Lee
6. Nicole Carr
7. Yuke Li
8. Nima Hadidi
9. Chandramouli Chandrasekaran
10. Jonathan C Kao

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This manuscript reports a useful computational study of information encoding across the monkey prefrontal and pre-motor cortices during decision making. While many of the conclusions are supported with solid analyses, the evidence for the main interpretation of the results, the role of an information bottleneck across areas, is not complete. The results will be of interest to a systems and computational neuroscience audience.

Reviewed by eLife

Multifaceted role of galanin in brain excitability

1. Nicolas N Rieser
2. Milena Ronchetti
3. Adriana Lea Lea Hotz
4. Stephan CF Neuhauss

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  The study investigated the effects of the peptide galanin on brain Ca2+ activity in zebrafish, which provides a useful model organism for whole-brain imaging because of its transparency. They found that galanin has distinct effects on hyperactivity and expression of galanin changes after activity increases. The strength of evidence was incomplete particularly for some of the conclusions regarding the use of convulsants and relevance to epilepsy because of limitations to the methods and interpretations of results.

Reviewed by eLife

Synaptic connectivity of sensorimotor circuits for vocal imitation in the songbird

1. Massimo Trusel
2. Ziran Zhao
3. Danyal H Alam
4. Ethan S Marks
5. Maaya Z Ikeda
6. Todd F Roberts

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  The songbird vocal motor nucleus HVC contains cells that project to the basal ganglia, the auditory system, or to downstream vocal motor structures. In this fundamental study, the authors conduct optogenetic circuit mapping to clarify how four distinct inputs to HVC act on these distinct HVC cell types. They provide compelling evidence that all long range projections engage inhibitory circuits in HVC and can also exhibit cell-type specific preferences in monosynaptic input strength. Understanding HVC at this microcircuit level is critical for constraining models of song learning and production.

Reviewed by eLife

Microglia are required for developmental specification of AgRP innervation in the hypothalamus of offspring exposed to maternal high-fat diet during lactation

1. Haley N Mendoza-Romero
2. Jessica E Biddinger
3. Michelle N Bedenbaugh
4. Richard Simerly

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  The authors provide a valuable contribution by documenting the role of microglia in pruning the axon terminals of AgRP neurons. The analysis of microglial axonal pruning is solid; however, the analysis of the effects inhibiting microglia on subsequent food consumption is not fully complete.

Reviewed by eLife

Neocortical layer-5 tLTD relies on non-ionotropic presynaptic NMDA receptor signaling

1. Aurore Thomazeau
2. Sabine Rannio
3. Jennifer A Brock
4. Hovy Ho-Wai Wong
5. Per Jesper Sjöström

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  By using sparse Cre-dependent deletion of GluN1 subunit, in vitro quadruple patch clamp recordings, and pharmacological interventions, the authors show that spike timing dependent plasticity at between L5 synapses in the mouse visual cortex is: (i) dependent on presynaptic NMDA receptors; (ii) mediated by non-ionotropic NMDA receptor signaling, and (iii) reliant on presynaptic JNK2/Syntaxin-1a interactions. These fundamental findings advance our understanding of the molecular mechanisms underlying spike time dependent plasticity. The data are compelling and are supported by the elegant application of sophisticated experimental approaches.

Reviewed by eLife

Assemblies, synapse clustering, and network topology interact with plasticity to explain structure-function relationships of the cortical connectome

1. András Ecker
2. Daniela Egas Santander
3. Marwan Abdellah
4. Jorge Blanco Alonso
5. Sirio Bolaños-Puchet
6. Giuseppe Chindemi
7. Dhuruva Priyan Gowri Mariyappan
8. James B Isbister
9. James King
10. Pramod Kumbhar
11. Ioannis Magkanaris
12. Eilif B Muller
13. Michael W Reimann

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This useful study presents a biologically realistic, large-scale cortical model of the rat's non-barrel somatosensory cortex, investigating synaptic plasticity of excitatory connections under varying patterns of external activations and characterizing relations between network architecture and plasticity outcomes. The model offers an impressive level of biological detail, addressing many aspects of the cellular and network anatomy and properties, and investigating their relationships to the biologically plausible plasticity. The numerical simulations appear to be well executed and documented, providing an excellent resource to the community. The evidence supporting the main conclusions is solid with results being more observational in nature, and minor weaknesses relating to the lack of explanatory power of causal relationships and mechanisms.

Reviewed by eLife

Distinct neural bases of subcomponents of the attentional blink

1. Swagata Halder
2. Deepak Velgapuni Raya
3. Devarajan Sridharan

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This study provides an important contribution to our understanding of the mechanisms underlying the limited capacity to process rapid sequences of visual stimuli. It reports convincing evidence that the attentional blink affects neurally separable processes of visual detection and discrimination. The study will be of interest to neuroscientists and psychologists investigating perception and attention.

Reviewed by eLife