Neuroscience

Homeostatic regulation of rapid eye movement sleep by the preoptic area of the hypothalamus

1. John J Maurer
2. Alexandra Lin
3. Xi Jin
4. Jiso Hong
5. Nicholas Sathi
6. Romain Cardis
7. Alejandro Osorio-Forero
8. Anita Lüthi
9. Franz Weber
10. Shinjae Chung

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This valuable study advances our understanding of the brain nuclei involved in rapid-eye movement (REM) sleep regulation. Using a combination of imaging, electrophysiology, and optogenetic tools, the study provides convincing evidence that inhibitory neurons in the preoptic area of the hypothalamus influence REM sleep. This work will be of interest to neurobiologists working on the brain circuits of sleep.

Reviewed by eLife

Aberrant hippocampal Ca2+ microwaves following synapsin-dependent adeno-associated viral expression of Ca2+ indicators

1. Nicola Masala
2. Manuel Mittag
3. Eleonora Ambrad Giovannetti
4. Darik A O'Neil
5. Fabian J Distler
6. Peter Rupprecht
7. Fritjof Helmchen
8. Rafael Yuste
9. Martin Fuhrmann
10. Heinz Beck
11. Michael Wenzel
12. Tony Kelly

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This important study provides convincing evidence of artifactual calcium micro-waves during calcium imaging of populations of neurons in the hippocampus using methods that are common in the field. The work raises awareness of these artifacts so that any research labs planning to do calcium imaging in the hippocampus can avoid them by using alternative strategies that the authors propose.

Reviewed by eLife

Input-specific gating of NMDA amplification via HCN channels in mouse L2/3 pyramidal neurons

1. Viktor János Oláh
2. Jing Wu
3. Leonard K. Kaczmarek
4. Matthew JM Rowan

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  The authors used electrophysiology in brain slices and computer modeling and suggest that layer 2/3 pyramidal neurons of the mouse cortex express functional HCN channels, despite little evidence in the past that they are present. The study is useful at the present time, but results are incomplete because the methods, data, and analyses do not always support the conclusions.

Reviewed by eLife

Aberrant cortical activity, functional connectivity, and neural assembly architecture after photothrombotic stroke in mice

1. Mischa Vance Bandet
2. Ian Robert Winship

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This important study sheds light on several apparent discrepancies observed across animal studies examining neuroimaging biomarkers of functional recovery following focal ischemia. Using 2-photon imaging of calcium activity in awake mice, the authors show compelling evidence that deficits in neuronal activity and functional connectivity after photothrombosis occur within a very small distance from the infarct (<750 microns) whereas these measures were relatively unaltered more distally, even those typically implicated with functional remapping of the forelimb representation in anaesthetized animals. These findings reveal a complex spatiotemporal relationship between perilesional neuronal network function and behavioral recovery that is more nuanced than previously reported, and motivates the need for better criteria for what is considered remapping.

Reviewed by eLife

Dueling Endogenous Viral-Like Sequences Control Synaptic Plasticity

1. P. Githure M’Angale
2. Adrienne Lemieux
3. Yumeng Liu
4. Jasmine Graslie
5. Shuhao Wang
6. Alfred Simkin
7. Vivian Budnik
8. Brian A. Kelch
9. Travis Thomson

Reviewed by Arcadia Science

Mu opioid receptors gate the locus coeruleus pain generator

1. Makenzie R. Norris
2. Chao-Cheng Kuo
3. Samantha S. Dunn
4. Jenny R. Kim
5. Léa J. Becker
6. Gustavo Borges
7. Loc V. Thang
8. Kyle E. Parker
9. Jordan G. McCall

Reviewed by Arcadia Science

Perceptual learning improves discrimination while distorting appearance

1. Sarit F.A. Szpiro
2. Charlie S. Burlingham
3. Eero P. Simoncelli
4. Marisa Carrasco

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This work presents a potentially important behavioral finding: that perceptual learning may not only improve but also distort the appearance of visual stimuli. The strength of the presented evidence in support of the main claim is however incomplete, and requires further analyses to confirm that perceptual learning does increase overestimation bias, and clarify why a very large baseline overestimation bias is present in the data.

Reviewed by eLife

Octopamine integrates the status of internal energy supply into the formation of food-related memories

1. Michael Berger
2. Michèle Fraatz
3. Katrin Auweiler
4. Katharina Dorn
5. Tanna El Khadrawe
6. Henrike Scholz

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This important study dissects the role of octopamine in the interplay between internal energy homeostasis, food intake and food-related memories. The solid experimental evidence will shed additional light on previously published work and should be of interest to the growing community of biologists interested in how internal state shapes behavior, including decision making processes, learning and memory.

Reviewed by eLife

Endogenous oscillatory rhythms and interactive contingencies jointly influence infant attention during early infant-caregiver interaction

1. Emily A.M. Phillips
2. Louise Goupil
3. Megan Whitehorn
4. Emma Bruce-Gardyne
5. Florian A. Csolsim
6. Navsheen Kaur
7. Emily Greenwood
8. Ira Marriott Haresign
9. Sam V. Wass

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This study reports important evidence that infants' internal factors guide children's attention, and that caregivers respond to infants' attentional shifts during caregiver-infant interactions. The authors analyzed EEG data and multiple types of behaviors using solid methodologies that can guide future studies of neural responses during social interaction in infants.

Reviewed by eLife

A stochastic world model on gravity for stability inference

1. Taicheng Huang
2. Jia Liu

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  In this valuable study, the authors present findings that suggest that people do not faithfully replicate the physics of the real world but rather have a stochastic world model, specifically a stochastic representation of gravity. This contrasts with prior accounts that suggested a potentially noisy Newtonian model where the noise arises from perceptual uncertainty or (inferred) external perturbations. The experimental evidence is generally solid, with all experiments and model simulations being consistent with the proposed account. In the revision, the authors also added a number of control experiments that address some of the most pressing concerns of the original submission.

Reviewed by eLife