Neuroscience

Midbrain encodes sound detection behavior without auditory cortex

1. Tai-Ying Lee
2. Yves Weissenberger
3. Andrew J King
4. Johannes C Dahmen

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This study demonstrates that neurons receiving inputs from auditory cortex in the inferior colliculus widely encode the outcome of a sound detection task independant of the presence of auditory cortex. This valuable study based on imaging of transynaptically labelled neurons provides convincing evidence that auditory cortex is necessary neither for sound detection, nor to channel information related to behavioral outcome to the subcortical auditory system. This study will be of wide interest for sensory neuroscientists.

Reviewed by eLife

DBT is a metabolic switch for maintenance of proteostasis under proteasomal impairment

1. Ran-Der Hwang
2. YuNing Lu
3. Qing Tang
4. Goran Periz
5. Giho Park
6. Xiangning Li
7. Qiwang Xiang
8. Yang Liu
9. Tao Zhang
10. Jiou Wang

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This important study discovered DBT as a novel gene implicated in the resistance to MG132-mediated cytotoxicity and potentially also in the pathogenesis of ALS and FTD, two fatal neurodegenerative diseases. The authors provided convincing evidence to support a mechanism by which loss of DBT suppresses MG132-mediated toxicity via promoting autophagy. This work will be of interest to cell biologists and biochemists, especially in the FTD/ALS field.

Reviewed by eLife

Novel cyclic homogeneous oscillation detection method for high accuracy and specific characterization of neural dynamics

1. Hohyun Cho
2. Markus Adamek
3. Jon T Willie
4. Peter Brunner

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  Building on previous toolboxes to distinguish 1/f noise from oscillatory activity, this study introduces an important advancement in neural signal analysis to identify oscillatory activity in electrophysiological data that refines the accuracy of identifying non-sinusoidal neural oscillations. Extensive validation, using synthetic and various empirical data, provides convincing evidence for the accuracy of the method and outlines practical implications for relevant scientific problems in the field.

Reviewed by eLife

Diffusion MRS tracks distinct trajectories of neuronal development in the cerebellum and thalamus of rat neonates

1. Clémence Ligneul
2. Lily Qiu
3. William T Clarke
4. Saad Jbabdi
5. Marco Palombo
6. Jason P. Lerch

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This study presents valuable findings regarding the microstructural basis of brain development in the cerebellum and thalamus of rat neonates using diffusion-weighted MRS. The authors present solid evidence of differential development trajectories in the thalamus and the cerebellum through analytical and morphometric biophysical modelling of the diffusion-weighted MRS data, though some aspects such as the validation of the findings against gold-standard techniques and a detailed discussion of methodological choices require further elaboration. The work will be of interest to developmental biologists and neuroscientists seeking noninvasive approaches to probe in vivo neuronal and glial development in the brain.

Reviewed by eLife

Rate of brain aging associates with future executive function in Asian children and older adults

1. Susan F. Cheng
2. Wan Lin Yue
3. Kwun Kei Ng
4. Xing Qian
5. Siwei Liu
6. Trevor W.K. Tan
7. Kim-Ngan Nguyen
8. Ruth L.F. Leong
9. Saima Hilal
10. Ching-Yu Cheng
11. Ai Peng Tan
12. Evelyn C. Law
13. Peter D. Gluckman
14. Christopher Li-Hsian Chen
15. Yap Seng Chong
16. Michael J. Meaney
17. Michael W.L. Chee
18. B.T. Thomas Yeo
19. Juan Helen Zhou

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This valuable study marks a significant advancement in brain aging research by centering on Asian populations (Chinese, Malay, and Indian Singaporeans), a group frequently underrepresented in such studies. It unveils solid evidence for anatomical differences in brain aging predictors between the young and old age groups. Overall, this study broadens our understanding of brain aging across diverse ethnicities.

Reviewed by eLife

Establishing synthetic ribbon-type active zones in a heterologous expression system

1. Rohan Kapoor
2. Niko Schwenzer
3. Thomas Dresbach
4. Stephan E. Lehnart
5. Tobias Moser

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  The authors use a synthetic approach to introduce synaptic ribbon proteins into HEK cells and analyze the ability of the resulting assemblies to cluster calcium channels at the active zone. The use of this ground-up approach is valuable as it establishes a system to study molecular interactions at the active zone. The work relies on a solid combination of super-resolution microscopy and electrophysiology, but would benefit from: (i) additional ultrastructural analysis to establish ribbon formation (in the absence of which the claim of these being synthetic ribbons might not be supported; (ii) data quantification (to confirm colocalization of different proteins); (iii) stronger validation of impact on Ca2+ function; (iv) in depth discussion of problems derived from the use of an over-expression approach.

Reviewed by eLife

Human HPSE2 gene transfer ameliorates bladder pathophysiology in a mutant mouse model of urofacial syndrome

1. Filipa M Lopes
2. Celine Grenier
3. Benjamin W Jarvis
4. Sara Al Mahdy
5. Adrian Lène-McKay
6. Alison M Gurney
7. William G Newman
8. Simon N Waddington
9. Adrian S Woolf
10. Neil A Roberts

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  Urofacial syndrome is a rare early-onset lower urinary tract disorder characterized by variants in HPSE2, the gene encoding heparanase-2. This study provides a useful proof-of-principle demonstration that AAV9-based gene therapy for urofacial syndrome is feasible and safe at least over the time frame evaluated, with restoration of HPSE2 expression leading to re-establishment of evoked contraction and relaxation of bladder and outflow tract tissue, respectively, in organ bath studies. The evidence is, however, still incomplete. The work would benefit from evaluation of additional replicates for several endpoints, quantitative assessment of HPSE2 expression, inclusion of in vivo analyses such as void spot assays or cystometry, single-cell analysis of the urinary tract in mutants versus controls, and addressing concerns regarding the discrepancy in HPSE2 expression between bladder tissue and liver in humans and mice.

Reviewed by eLife

Prion diseases disrupt the glutamate/glutamine metabolism in skeletal muscle

1. Davide Caredio
2. Maruša Koderman
3. Karl Frontzek
4. Silvia Sorce
5. Mario Nuvolone
6. Juliane Bremer
7. Petra Schwarz
8. Stefano Sellitto
9. Nathalie Streichenberger
10. Claudia Scheckel
11. Adriano Aguzzi

Reviewed by Review Commons

Implicit auditory memory in older listeners: from encoding to 6-month retention

1. Roberta Bianco
2. Edward T. R. Hall
3. Marcus. T. Pearce
4. Maria Chait

Reviewed by PREreview

Factorized visual representations in the primate visual system and deep neural networks

1. Jack W Lindsey
2. Elias B Issa

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  The study makes a valuable empirical contribution to our understanding of visual processing in primates and deep neural networks, with a specific focus on the concept of factorization. The analyses provide convincing evidence that high factorization scores are correlated with neural predictivity. This work will be of interest to systems neuroscientists studying vision and could inspire further research that ultimately may lead to better models of or a better understanding of the brain.

Reviewed by eLife