Neuroscience

Inference technique for the synaptic conductances in rhythmically active networks and application to respiratory central pattern generation circuits

1. Yaroslav Molkov
2. Anke Borgmann
3. Hidehiko Koizumi
4. Noriyuki Hama
5. Ruli Zhang
6. Jeffrey Smith

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This work describes an inference technique for extracting information about relative contributions of excitatory and inhibitory synaptic drive onto single neurons in neural networks. The electrophysiological techniques and results are of high quality, and the analytical work is novel and potentially powerful, yet with several untested assumptions underlying the approach. This is nevertheless solid work that will be valuable to neuroscience labs interested in exploring alternative approaches to studies of integrated synaptic connectivity.

Reviewed by eLife

Genome-wide consensus transcriptional signatures identify synaptic pruning linking Alzheimer’s disease and epilepsy

1. Huihong Li
2. Zhiran Xie
3. Yuxuan Tian
4. Ruoyin Zhou
5. Yaxi Yang
6. Bingying Lin
7. Si Chen
8. Jie Wu
9. Zihan Deng
10. Jianwei Li
11. Mingjie Chen
12. Xueke Liu
13. Yushan Sun
14. Bing Huang
15. Naili Wei
16. Xiaoyu Ji

Reviewed by PREreview

Uncovering the electrical synapse proteome in retinal neurons via in vivo proximity labeling

1. Stephan Tetenborg
2. Eyad Shihabeddin
3. Elizebeth Olive Akansha Manoj Kumar
4. Crystal L Sigulinsky
5. Karin Dedek
6. Ya-Ping Lin
7. Fabio A Echeverry
8. Hannah Hoff
9. Alberto E Pereda
10. Bryan W Jones
11. Christophe P Ribelayga
12. Klaus Ebnet
13. Ken Matsuura
14. John O’Brien

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This is an important study that characterized proteins associated with electrical synapses in zebrafish and mouse retinal neurons using proximity labeling approaches, complemented by biochemical and histological validations. The resulting protein interactome datasets are convincing and reveal novel scaffold proteins at the electrical synapse. Additional quantification and validation would strengthen the work further.

Reviewed by eLife

Progressive remote memory decline coincides with parvalbumin interneuron hyperexcitability and enhanced inhibition of cortical engram cells in a mouse model of Alzheimer’s disease

1. Julia J. van Adrichem
2. Rolinka J. van der Loo
3. Romina Ambrosini Defendi
4. August B. Smit
5. Michel C. van den Oever
6. Ronald E. van Kesteren

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This valuable study explores changes in remote memory impairment in an amyloid pathology mouse model, demonstrating that progressive deficits coincide with inhibitory interneuron alterations. While the findings shed light on circuit remodeling in this model, the mechanistic links between heightened inhibition and memory loss are currently incomplete. Additional data and deeper analysis may be needed to fully substantiate the authors' interpretations.

Reviewed by eLife

SpikeMAP: An unsupervised pipeline for the identification of cortical excitatory and inhibitory neurons in high-density multielectrode arrays with ground-truth validation

1. E. Giraud
2. M. Lynn
3. P. Vincent-Lamarre
4. J-C. Béïque
5. J-P. Thivierge

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  In this manuscript, the authors describe a software package for automatic differentiation of action potentials generated by excitatory and inhibitory neurons, acquired using high-density microelectrode arrays. The work is valuable as it offers a tool with the potential to automatically identify these neuron types in vitro. However, it is incomplete due to limited comparison with ground truth data from optogenetically identified interneuron subtypes and with existing spike sorting pipelines available to users.

Reviewed by eLife

Ultrastructural sublaminar-specific diversity of excitatory synaptic boutons in layer 1 of the adult human temporal lobe neocortex

1. Astrid Rollenhagen
2. Akram Sadeghi
3. Bernd Walkenfort
4. Claus C Hilgetag
5. Kurt Sätzler
6. Joachim HR Lübke

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This study provides important information on the ultrastructural organization of layer 1 of the human neocortex. The quantitative assessment of various synaptic parameters, astrocytic coverage and mitochondrial morphology is based on convincing experimental approaches. These data provide new information on the detailed morphology of human neocortical tissue that will be of interest to neuroscientists working on different network functions.

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Molecular characterization of gustatory second-order neurons reveals integrative mechanisms of gustatory and metabolic information

1. Rubén Mollá-Albaladejo
2. Manuel Jiménez-Caballero
3. Juan A Sánchez-Alcañiz

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This study provides valuable insights into the organization of second-order circuits of gustatory neurons, particularly in how these circuits integrate opposing taste inputs and are modulated by metabolic state to regulate feeding behavior. Through an elegant combination of complementary techniques, the authors identify the target neurons involved in gustatory integration. The evidence supporting their conclusions is convincing.

Reviewed by eLife

Mental Effort and Counterfactuals Modulate Language Understanding: ERP Evidence in Older Adults

1. José Luis Salas-Herrera
2. Mabel Urrutia Martínez
3. Nicolás Andrés Hinrichs

Reviewed by PREreview

Local Inhibitory Dynamics Underpin Temporal Integration and Functional Segregation between Barrels and Septa in the Mouse Barrel Cortex

1. Ali Özgür Argunşah
2. Tevye Jason Stachniak
3. Jenq-Wei Yang
4. Linbi Cai
5. Alexander van der Bourg
6. Rahel Kastli
7. Theofanis Karayannis

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  Argunşah et al. investigate the mechanisms underlying the differential response dynamics of barrel vs septa domains in shaping the responses to single vs multiple whiskers. Based on the observation of a higher density of SST+ interneurons in the septa, the authors investigate the hypothesis that Elfn1-dependent short-term plasticity shapes these responses. This important study is, however, supported by incomplete evidence; factors restricting the strength of evidence are the limited spatial resolution of the multi-unit activity, as well as the lack of a mechanistic explanation. This provocative and intellectually stimulating hypothesis provides a contribution to work on how different cell types shape cortical representation.

Reviewed by eLife

The distinct role of human PIT in attention control

1. Siyuan Huang
2. Lan Wang
3. Sheng He

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This important study reports that the human posterior inferotemporal cortex (hPIT) functions as an attentional priority map, integrating both top-down and bottom-up attentional signals rather than serving solely as an object-processing region. The experiments and analyses are well conducted and provide convincing evidence that hPIT bridges dorsal and ventral attention networks and is robustly modulated by attention across diverse visual tasks. The study will be relevant for researchers investigating visual attention, high-level visual cortex, and the neural mechanisms that integrate endogenous and exogenous attentional control.

Reviewed by eLife