Neuroscience

Characterizing the Spatial Distribution of Dendritic RNA at Single Molecule Resolution

1. Jihoon Kim
2. Jean G Rosario
3. Eric Mendoza
4. Da Kuang
5. Junhyong Kim

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This useful study combines multiplexed RNA-FISH with downstream analyses and modelling to describe novel dendritic mRNA distribution and behavioural features. Although the downstream analysis pipeline is novel, the results from this study are as of yet incomplete. Further inclusion of key missing controls, further work to better assess the physiological relevance, or additional modelling to expand their conclusions would make this work of greater interest to RNA biologists.

Reviewed by eLife

Engineering Microglial Cells to Promote Spinal Cord Injury Recovery

1. Qingsheng Zhou
2. Jianchao Liu
3. Qiongxuan Fang
4. Chunming Zhang
5. Wei Liu
6. Yifeng Sun

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  The study is useful for advancing understanding of spinal cord injuries, but it presents inadequate evidence due to the use of multiple datasets. Data were collected from different models of spinal cord injury, various regions of the spinal cord, and an iPSC model, with the differences between these models making it difficult to draw reliable conclusions.

Reviewed by eLife

Unveiling the functional connectivity of astrocytic networks with AstroNet, a graph reconstruction algorithm coupled to image processing

1. L. Zonca
2. F. C. Bellier
3. G. Milior
4. P. Aymard
5. J. Visser
6. A. Rancillac
7. N. Rouach
8. D. Holcman

Reviewed by Arcadia Science

Parabrachial CGRP neurons modulate active defensive behavior under a naturalistic threat

1. Gyeong Hee Pyeon
2. Hyewon Cho
3. Byung Min Chung
4. June-Seek Choi
5. Yong Sang Jo

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This important work advances our understanding of parabrachial CGRP threat function. The evidence supporting CGRP aversive outcome signaling is solid, while the evidence for cue signaling and fear behavior generation is incomplete. The work will be of interest to neuroscientists studying defensive behaviors.

Reviewed by eLife

Error prediction determines the coordinate system used for the representation of novel dynamics

1. Raz Leib
2. David Franklin

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This study provides a valuable new perspective on how motor learning occurring in one state generalizes to new states (for example, a different limb posture). The proposed model improves upon previous theories in its ability to predict patterns of generalization, but evidence supporting this specific proposed model over possible alternatives is incomplete. The newly proposed theory appears promising but would be more convincing if its conceptual and theoretical basis were clearer and more rigorously derived.

Reviewed by eLife

Key epigenetic and signaling factors in the formation and maintenance of the blood-brain barrier

1. Jayanarayanan Sadanandan
2. Sithara Thomas
3. Iny Elizabeth Mathew
4. Zhen Huang
5. Spiros L Blackburn
6. Nitin Tandon
7. Hrishikesh Lokhande
8. Pierre D McCrea
9. Emery H Bresnick
10. Pramod K Dash
11. Devin W McBride
12. Arif Harmanci
13. Lalit K Ahirwar
14. Dania Jose
15. Ari C Dienel
16. Hussein A Zeineddine
17. Sungha Hong
18. Peeyush Kumar T

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  The specific questions taken up for study by the authors-in mice of HDAC and Polycomb function in the context of vascular endothelial cell (EC) gene expression relevant to the blood-brain barrier, (BBB)-are potentially useful in the context of vascular diversification in understanding and remedying situations where BBB function is compromised. The strength of the evidence presented is incomplete, and to elaborate, it is known that the culturing of endothelial cells can have a strong effect on gene expression.

Reviewed by eLife

Muscarinic receptors mediate motivation via preparatory neural activity in humans

1. John P Grogan
2. Matthias Raemaekers
3. Maaike MH van Swieten
4. Alexander L Green
5. Martin J Gillies
6. Sanjay G Manohar

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  The authors have reported an important study in which they use a double-blind design to explore pharmacological manipulations in the context of a behavioral task. While the sample size is small, the use of varied methodology, including electrophysiology, behavior, and pharmacology, makes this manuscript particularly notable. Overall, the findings are solid and motivate future explanations into the relationships between acetylcholine and motivation.

Reviewed by eLife

Characterization of Postsynaptic Glutamate Transporter Functionality in the Zebrafish Retinal First Synapse Across Different Wavelengths

1. Marco Garbelli
2. Stephanie Niklaus
3. Stephan C.F. Neuhauss

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This important study reveals that Excitatory Amino Acid Transporters play a role in chromatic information processing in the retina. The combination of (double) mutants, behavioral assays, immunohistochemistry, and electroretinograms provides solid evidence supporting the appropriately conservative conclusions. The work will be of interest to neurobiologists working on color vision or retinal processing.

Reviewed by eLife

Decoding contextual influences on auditory perception from primary auditory cortex

1. Bernhard Englitz
2. Sahar Akram
3. Mounya Elhilali
4. Shihab Shamma

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This important study explores the neural basis for a well known auditory illusion, often utilized in movie soundtracks, in which a sequence of two complex tones can be perceived as either rising or falling in pitch depending on the context in which they are presented. Convincing single-neuron data and analyses are presented to show that correlates of these pitch-direction changes are found in the ferret primary auditory cortex. While these findings provide an interesting link between cortical activity and perception, the manuscript could be clearer on the wider implications of the failure of traditional decoding models to account for these results.

Reviewed by eLife

Prolonged Pain Reliably Slows Peak Alpha Frequency by Reducing Fast Alpha Power

1. Andrew J Furman
2. Mariya Prokhorenko
3. Michael L Keaser
4. Jing Zhang
5. Shuo Chen
6. Ali Mazaheri
7. David A Seminowicz

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This study presents valuable findings on changes in neuronal alpha activity elicited by prolonged pain in healthy human participants. The evidence supporting the claims of the authors, however, is incomplete and would benefit from clarifications of analytical strategies, additional statistical analyses, and shaping of the interpretations. With the methodological and interpretative parts strengthened, the work will be of interest to neuroscientists investigating the brain mechanisms of pain to identify new approaches to pain treatment

Reviewed by eLife