Neuroscience

Behavioural and neurogenetic evidence for emotion primitives in the fruit fly Drosophila: insights from the Open Field Test

1. Yi Lueningschroer-Wang
2. Emilia Derksen
3. Hannah Wilde
4. Maria Steigmeier
5. Christian Wegener

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This useful study reports findings that support the use of the Open Field Test in Drosophila as a model to study "emotion-like states", which are behavioral responses to several stressful or aversive treatments, and resilience upon their subsequent removal. Behavioral data, by employing established stress-causing treatments and genetic manipulations, are solid. The main advance of this work over previous Drosophila work using a similar experimental setup is systematic analysis of various stressors.

Reviewed by eLife

Arm Control and its Recovery after Selective Lesions of Sensorimotor Cortex and the Red Nucleus: A Kinematic Study in Non-Human Primates

1. Anna Baines
2. Annie Poll
3. Anne ME Baker
4. John W Krakauer
5. Stuart N Baker

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This important study describes how selective lesions of key cortical and subcortical motor areas affect reaching actions in macaque monkeys. The results will be of interest to both basic and clinical researchers studying the neural control of movement. Kinematic analysis of movement quality is solid but could be improved by considering other metrics, especially those that relate to grasping. Evidence for the general claims related to the role of specific motor areas is incomplete because the lesions did not fully eliminate any single area while simultaneously involving neighbouring areas.

Reviewed by eLife

Cell type transcriptomics reveal shared genetic mechanisms in Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease

1. Anwesha Bhattacharya
2. Edward A. Fon
3. Alain Dagher
4. Yasser Iturria-Medina
5. Jo Anne Stratton
6. Chloe Savignac
7. Jack Stanley
8. Liam Hodgson
9. Badr Ait Hammou
10. David A Bennett
11. Danilo Bzdok

Reviewed by GigaScience

Astrocytic Nonsense-mediated mRNA decay regulates calcium signaling to support synapse function and restrain anxiety

1. Pablo J Lituma
2. Aykut Deveci
3. Estibaliz Barrio-Alonso
4. Kun Tan
5. Miles F Wilkinson
6. Pablo E Castillo
7. Dilek Colak

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This important study provides the first in vivo evidence that nonsense-mediated mRNA decay (NMD) in mature astrocytes regulates astrocyte function, synaptic plasticity, and anxiety-related behavior. Using a broad range of approaches, the authors show that conditional deletion of Upf2 alters astrocyte morphology and calcium signaling while impairing synaptic transmission and plasticity, providing solid support for the central conclusion that astrocytic NMD influences neural circuit function. Some key mechanistic claims remain incompletely supported, including whether phenotypes reflect astrocyte remodeling versus loss, the interpretation of synaptic engulfment data, the link between NMD targets and calcium signaling, and the extent to which calcium dysregulation explains the observed synaptic and behavioral effects.

Reviewed by eLife

Synthetic torpor in the rat protects the heart from ischaemia-reperfusion injury

1. Megan Elley
2. Ludovico Taddei
3. Muzammil Ali Khan
4. Una Rose Wilcox
5. Timna Hitrec
6. Anthony E Pickering
7. Michael Ambler

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This important submission from Ambler and colleagues brings new insights into how torpor conditions may confer resilience in cases of cardioprotection. It has novelty, which can be enhanced by additional in vivo support. The study is backed by solid evidence, and represents a unique interoceptive mechanism of interest.

Reviewed by eLife