Neuroscience

Grid cells encode reward distance during path integration in cue-rich environments

1. Satoshi Kuroki
2. Sébastien Royer

Reviewed by PREreview

Reduced melanocortin tone mediates increased feeding during pregnancy in mice

1. Ingrid Camila Possa-Paranhos
2. Kerem Catalbas
3. Samuel Congdon
4. Tanya Pattnaik
5. Christina Nelson
6. Dajin Cho
7. Patrick Sweeney

Reviewed by PREreview

Nociceptors use multiple neurotransmitters to drive pain

1. Donald Iain MacDonald
2. Rakshita Balaji
3. Alexander T. Chesler

Reviewed by PREreview

Dietary restriction promotes neuronal resilience via ADIOL

1. Ana Guijarro-Hernández
2. Shinja Yoo
3. George A. Lemieux
4. Sena Komatsu
5. Abdullah Q. Latiff
6. Rishika R. Patil
7. Kaveh Ashrafi

Reviewed by PREreview

The encoding of interoceptive-based predictions by the paraventricular nucleus of the thalamus D2R+ neurons

1. Briana Machen
2. Sierra N. Miller
3. Al Xin
4. Carine Lampert
5. Lauren Assaf
6. Julia Tucker
7. Sarah Herrell
8. Francisco Pereira
9. Gabriel Loewinger
10. Sofia Beas

Reviewed by PREreview

The representation of facial emotion expands from sensory to prefrontal cortex with development

1. Xiaoxu Fan
2. Abhishek Tripathi
3. Kelly R Bijanki

• Curated by eLife

  **eLife Assessment
  **
  This study examines an important question regarding the developmental trajectory of neural mechanisms supporting facial expression processing. Leveraging a rare intracranial EEG (iEEG) dataset including both children and adults, the authors reported that facial expression recognition mainly engaged the posterior superior temporal cortex (pSTC) among children, while both pSTC and the prefrontal cortex were engaged among adults. In terms of strength of evidence, the solid methods, data and analyses broadly support the claims with minor weaknesses.

Reviewed by eLife

A three-dimensional immunofluorescence atlas of the brain of the hackled-orb weaver spider, Uloborus diversus

1. Gregory Artiushin
2. Abel Corver
3. Andrew Gordus

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This valuable study provides a 3D standardised anatomical atlas of the brain of an orb-weaving spider. The authors describe the brain's shape and its inner compartments-the neuropils-and add information on the distribution of a number of neuroactive substances such as neurotransmitters and neuropeptides. Through the use of histological and microscopy methods the authors provide a more complete view of an arachnid brain than previous studies and also presents convincing evidence about the organisation and homology of brain regions. The work will serve as a reference for future studies on spider brains and will enables comparisons of brain regions with insects so that the evolution of these structures can be inferred across arthropods.

Reviewed by eLife

Emergence of Functional Heart-Brain Circuits in a Vertebrate

1. Luis Hernandez-Nunez
2. Joana Avrami
3. Sky Shi
4. Areni Markarian
5. Annette Kim
6. Jonathan Boulanger-Weill
7. Virginia Rutten
8. Arman Zarghani-Shiraz
9. Misha B Ahrens
10. Florian Engert
11. Mark C Fishman

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  In this important manuscript, the authors establish a vertebrate model for studying the development of circuits that control heart rate. This contribution uses a combination of experimental techniques to provide compelling information for scientists looking to understand how heart rate regulation emerges during development.

Reviewed by eLife

Intersection of transient cell states with stable cell types in hippocampus

1. Jack A Olmstead
2. Lauren E King
3. Brenda L Bloodgood

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This important study provides a detailed analysis of the transcriptional landscape of the mouse hippocampus in the context of various physiological states. The main conclusions have solid support: that most transcriptional targets are generally stable, with notable exceptions in the dentate gyrus and with regard to circadian changes. There are some weaknesses and it would improve the manuscript to address them.

Reviewed by eLife

Voltage imaging reveals the emergence of population activity in the spinal cord

1. Asuka Shiraishi
2. Ayane Hayashi
3. Narumi Fukuda
4. Mari Hishinuma
5. Hiroaki Miyazawa
6. Sachiko Tsuda

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This paper presents an important advance in genetically encoded voltage imaging of the developing zebrafish spinal cord in vivo, capturing voltage dynamics in neuronal populations, single cells, and subcellular compartments inaccessible to patch clamp, and diverse spike waveforms and subthreshold voltage dynamics inaccessible to calcium imaging. The work identifies a developmental progression from irregular voltage fluctuations to coordinated contralateral and ipsilateral activity, providing insight into how electrical dynamics and cellular morphology evolve during circuit formation. The strength of evidence is solid, with imaging data supporting the main conclusions, although the manuscript would be strengthened by more complete methodological documentation and clearer context relative to earlier calcium imaging studies. Overall, this study provides a resource that is of importance for researchers investigating neural development and circuit assembly, illustrating the value of voltage imaging as a general tool for probing bioelectric mechanisms in morphogenesis and circuit development.

Reviewed by eLife