Neuroscience

A memory model of rodent spatial navigation in which place cells are memories arranged in a grid and grid cells are non-spatial

1. David E Huber

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This important paper provides solid evidence for an alternative conceptualization of the functional role of the place and grid cell network in the medial temporal lobe for memory as opposed to spatial processing or navigation. The theory is extensive, tightly integrating data on various spatial cell types. It accounts for many experimental results and generates strong predictions for future studies that will be of interest to researchers in this field. The impact of the work would be strengthened if future experiments reveal that grid cells do indeed encode specific nonspatial features.

Reviewed by eLife

The interplay between homeostatic synaptic scaling and homeostatic structural plasticity maintains the robust firing rate of neural networks

1. Han Lu
2. Sandra Diaz
3. Maximilian Lenz
4. Andreas Vlachos

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This valuable study combines experiments and modelling to advance our understanding of the nonlinear nature of homeostatic structural plasticity and its interaction with synaptic scaling. The methodology and findings are solid, although additional work is needed to better link models with experiments and support some of the conclusions drawn. This study will be of interest to theoretical and experimental neuroscientists working in homeostatic plasticity.

Reviewed by eLife

Nitric oxide modulates contrast suppression in a subset of mouse retinal ganglion cells

1. Dominic Gonschorek
2. Matías A Goldin
3. Jonathan Oesterle
4. Tom Schwerd-Kleine
5. Ryan Arlinghaus
6. Zhijian Zhao
7. Timm Schubert
8. Olivier Marre
9. Thomas Euler

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This important study is the first comprehensive analysis of the modulatory effects of nitric oxide (NO) on the response properties of retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) in the mouse retina using two-photon calcium imaging and multi-electrode arrays (MEA). The results provide compelling evidence that a subset of suppressed-by-contrast RGCs are affected. These unexpected findings are likely of broad interest to visual neuroscientists.

Reviewed by eLife

GEARBOCS: An Adeno Associated Virus Tool for In Vivo Gene Editing in Astrocytes

1. Dhanesh Sivadasan Bindu
2. Justin T Savage
3. Nicholas Brose
4. Luke Bradley
5. Kylie Dimond
6. Christabel Xin Tan
7. Cagla Eroglu

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  The present study described GEARBOCS, an adeno-associated virus tool for in vivo gene editing in astrocytes, which is both timely and of importance for glial biologists, who often are troubled by efficient gene targeting in astrocytes. Overall, the finding is valuable, and the strength of the evidence is solid. Presumably, there will be great potential associated with GEARBOCS applications in the future.

Reviewed by eLife

Beyond gradients: Factorized, geometric control of interference and generalization

1. Daniel N Scott
2. Michael J Frank

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This valuable study introduces a novel method for controlling generalization and interference in neural networks undergoing continual learning. The authors provide solid evidence that their parsimonious method performs better than online gradient descent in several continual learning situations while providing biologically plausible links to three-factor learning rules. However, empirical validation is limited to linear networks, which raises questions about the generality of the results in non-linear networks. While the work is interesting to theoretical and experimental neuroscientists, improving the article presentation by clearly defining terminology before using it and providing more details on the setup of the simulation experiments would be vital to make the article more accessible.

Reviewed by eLife

Correlated spontaneous activity sets up multi-sensory integration in the developing higher-order cortex

1. JaeAnn M Dwulet
2. Nawal Zabouri
3. Jan H Kirchner
4. Marina E Wosniack
5. Alessandra Raspanti
6. Deyue Kong
7. Gerrit J Houwen
8. Paloma P Maldonado
9. Christian Lohmann
10. Julijana Gjorgjieva

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This valuable study combines experiments and theory to investigate the putative role of spontaneous correlated activity in establishing aligned topographic maps of neural activity in higher-order sensory areas, and will be of interest to researchers studying multisensory integration and brain development. However, the evidence presented is incomplete, as there are notable disconnects between the experimental data and the modeling setup, and there are methodological details that are either unclear or missing, limiting the strength of the claims.

Reviewed by eLife

A neurotrophin functioning with a Toll regulates structural plasticity in a dopaminergic circuit

1. Jun Sun
2. Francisca Rojo-Cortes
3. Suzana Ulian-Benitez
4. Manuel G Forero
5. Guiyi Li
6. Deepanshu ND Singh
7. Xiaocui Wang
8. Sebastian Cachero
9. Marta Moreira
10. Dean Kavanagh
11. Gregory SXE Jefferis
12. Vincent Croset
13. Alicia Hidalgo

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This important study identifies neurotrophin signaling as a molecular mechanism underlying previous findings of structural plasticity in central dopaminergic neurons of the adult fly brain. The authors present solid evidence for neurotrophin signaling in shaping the structure and synapses of certain dopaminergic circuits. The work suggests an intriguing potential link between neurotrophin signaling and experience-induced structural plasticity but further research will be necessary to establish this connection definitively.

Reviewed by eLife

Discriminating neural ensemble patterns through dendritic computations in randomly connected feedforward networks

1. Bhanu Priya Somashekar
2. Upinder Singh Bhalla

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This study presents valuable quantitative insights into the prevalence of functionally clustered synaptic inputs on neuronal dendrites. The simple analytical calculations and computer simulations provide solid support for the main arguments. The findings can lead to a more detailed understanding of how dendrites contribute to the computation of neuronal networks.

Reviewed by eLife

Challenges and Efficacy of Astrocyte-to-Neuron Reprogramming in Spinal Cord Injury: In Vitro Insights and In Vivo Outcomes

1. ALESSIA NICEFORO
2. Lyandysha V Zholudeva
3. Silvia Fernandes
4. Yashvi Shah
5. Michael A Lane
6. Liang Qiang

Reviewed by PREreview

Encoding of cerebellar dentate neuron activity during visual attention in rhesus macaques

1. Nico A Flierman
2. Sue Ann Koay
3. Willem S van Hoogstraten
4. Tom JH Ruigrok
5. Pieter Roelfsema
6. Aleksandra Badura
7. Chris I De Zeeuw

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This important study examined neuronal activity in the dentate nucleus of the cerebellum when monkeys performed a difficult perceptual decision-making task. The authors provide convincing evidence that the cerebellum represents sensory, motor, and behavioral outcome signals that are sent to the attentional system. This paper is of great general interest in that it shows the involvement of the cerebellum in cognitive processes at the neuronal level.

Reviewed by eLife