Neuroscience

eLife assessment

This fundamental work describes the complex interplay between light exposure, hypothalamic activity, and cognitive function. The evidence supporting the conclusion is compelling with potential therapeutic applications of light modulation. The work will be of broad interest to basic and clinical neuroscientists.

eLife assessment

This important study asks whether motor neurons within the vestibulo-ocular circuit of zebrafish are required to determine the identity, connectivity, and function of upstream premotor neurons. They provide convincing genetic, anatomical and behavioral evidence that the answer is no. This work is of general interest to developmental neurobiologists and motivates future studies of whether motor neurons are dispensable for assembly of other sensorimotor neural circuits.

eLife assessment

In this work, the authors use a Drosophila adult ventral nerve cord injury model extending and confirming previous observations; this important study reveals key aspects of adult neural plasticity. Taking advantage of several genetic reporter and fate tracing tools, the authors provide solid evidence for different forms of glial plasticity, that are increased upon injury. The data on detected plasticity under physiologic conditions and especially the extent of cell divisions and cell fate changes upon injury would benefit from validation by additional markers. The experimental part would improve if strengthened and accompanied by a more comprehensive integration of results regarding glial reactivity in the adult CNS.

eLife assessment

This important work provides insights into the neural mechanisms regulating specific parental behaviors. By identifying a key role for oxytocin synthesizing cells in the paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus and their projections to the medial prefrontal cortex in promoting pup care and inhibiting infanticide, the study advances our understanding of the neurobiological basis of these contrasting behaviors in male and female mandarin voles. The evidence supporting the authors' conclusions is solid but lacks some critical methodological detail. The work should be of interest to researchers studying neuropeptide control of social behaviors in the brain.

eLife assessment

This useful study reports the behavioural and physiological effects of the longitudinal activation of neurons associated with negative experiences. The main claims of the paper are supported by solid experimental evidence, but the specificity of the long-term manipulation requires additional validation. This study will be of interest to neuroscientists working on memory.

eLife assessment

This method paper proposes a valuable Oscillation Component Analysis (OCA) approach, in analogy to Independent Component Analysis (ICA), in which source separation is achieved through biophysically inspired generative modeling of neural oscillations. The empirical evidence justifying the approach's advantage is incomplete. This work will be of interest to cognitive neuroscience, neural oscillation, and MEG/EEG.

eLife assessment

This study presents useful findings on an unresolved question of cerebellar physiology: Do synapses between Purkinje cells and granule cells, made by the ascending part of the granule cells' axon, have different properties than those made by parallel fibers? The authors conducted patch-clamp recordings on rat cerebellar slices and found a new type of plasticity in the synapses of the ascending part of granule cell axons. While the finding may contribute to a better understanding of cerebellar function, the results are still incomplete because the shift in the baseline recording may have influenced the readout of long-term plasticity.

eLife assessment

This important study demonstrated that ablation of astrocytes in the lumbar spinal cord not only reduced neuropathic pain but also caused microglia activation. The findings presented add considerable value to the current understanding of the role of astrocyte elimination in neuropathic pain, offering convincing evidence that supports existing hypotheses and insights into the interactions between astrocytes and microglial cells, likely through IFN-mediated mechanisms. This study may also offer a new therapeutic strategy for the treatment of debilitating neuropathic pain in patients with SCI.

eLife assessment

This study presents a valuable finding that the blood-brain barrier functionality changes with age and differs between males and females. The analysis is solid, comprising a large and racially diverse dataset, and utilizes a contrast-agent-free MRI method. Since limited work has been done in the MRI field on the blood-brain barrier using this method, this study is of great interest to neuroimaging researchers and clinicians.

eLife assessment

This is an important study that investigates how neural networks can learn to stochastically replay presented sequences of activity according to learned transition probabilities. The authors use error-based excitatory plasticity to minimize the difference between internally predicted activity and stimulus-driven activity, and inhibitory plasticity to maintain E-I balance. The approach is solid but the choice of learning rules and parameters is not always always justified, lacking a formal derivation and concrete experimental predictions.

eLife assessment

This study presents valuable findings relevant to research on olfactory neurogenesis and long-term adaptation. The evidence, at this stage, is incomplete. First, the effects described could, in part, also be attributed to "downregulation" of OR subtype-specific neurogenesis upon sensory deprivation, instead of selectively increased neurogenesis. Second, additional control experiments would be needed to support the main claims and rule out alternative explanations.

eLife assessment

This is a binocular rivalry study that uses ECG to present visual stimuli pulsing in line with cardiac events, to examine whether systole-entrained stimuli (i.e. presented during the period where the heart has contracted) are suppressed within visual awareness. Arguably out of line with this idea, the dominance durations were increased for systole-entrained stimuli. The manuscript addresses an important, precisely defined, and theoretically well-motivated question using sophisticated experimental and statistical methods. The interpretation of these results is not straightforward, however, such that they currently only provide incomplete support for the claims.

eLife assessment

This fundamental work unravels how female Drosophila can assess their social context via chemosensory cues and modulate the sperm storage process after copulation accordingly. A convincing set of rigorous experiments uncovers specific pheromones that influence the excitability of the female brain receptivity circuit and their propensity to discard inseminate from a mating. This insight into neuronal mechanisms of sexual behavior plasticity is of general interest to scientists working in the fields of animal behavior, neuroscience, evolution, and sexual selection, as well as insect chemosensation and reproduction.

eLife assessment

This important study sheds light on the mechanisms underlying a rare brain disease, offering insight into the role of microglia in this complex pathophysiology. The evidence presented is solid, utilizing state-of-the-art laboratory models to explore cellular interactions and disease development. While further research is needed, this study will be of interest to neuroscientists and clinicians aiming to understand and combat similar neurodegenerative disorders.

eLife assessment

In this study, the authors provide valuable evidence that the LGE is not a significant source of oligodendrocytes for the cortex. The reviewers did find some technical considerations that call for some modulation of the strength of the authors' conclusions and also pointed out some aspects of the data that were incomplete as presented.

eLife assessment

This valuable study further discloses the function of LRRK2 in BDNF-dependent synaptic processes in identifying postsynaptic actin cytoskeleton as a convergent site of LRRK2 pathophysiological activity. Multiple approaches in different cellular models provide mostly solid (but at times preliminary) evidence to support (many) of the conclusions, overall consistent with bioinformatics analyses covering previously published work. While an exciting start that should be pursued, examples are suggested by reviewers to add in additional experimentation to better support the expansive interpretation. The identification of mechanisms of LRRK2 action at the synapse is considered highly significant, as better knowledge in this regard may provide insight into why dopaminergic cells die with over-active LRRK2.

eLife assessment

This valuable study by Bartas and colleagues examined how patterns of monosynaptic input to specific cell types in the ventral tegmental area are altered by drugs of abuse. The authors applied a dimensionality reduction approach (principal component analysis) and showed that various drugs of abuse, and somewhat surprisingly the anesthesia alone (ketamine/xylasin), caused changes in the distribution of inputs labeled by the transsynaptic rabies virus. While there are some issues to be addressed, the evidence supporting the conclusions is overall solid, and provides information that is of value to the field, as well as a cautionary note on the interpretation of rabies virus-based tracing experiments.

eLife assessment

This study describes important findings related to early disruptions in disinhibitory modulation exerted by VIP+ interneurons, in CA1 in a transgenic model of Alzheimer's disease pathology. The authors provide a convincing analysis at the cellular, synaptic, network, and behavioral levels on how these changes correlate and might be related to behavioral impairments during these early stages of AD pathology.

eLife assessment

This valuable study presents new observations on white matter organisation at the micron scale, using a combination of synchrotron imaging and diffusion MRI across two species. Notably, the authors provide solid evidence for the fasciculation of axons within major fibre bundles into laminar structures, though these structures are not consistently observed across modalities or species. The study will be of general interest to neuroanatomists and those interested in white matter imaging.

eLife assessment

This study convincingly demonstrates the ability of reverting a neurodevelopmental defect with a dietary intervention. While the exact mechanisms remain to be elucidated, the authors establish a simple but important system to study the PI3K/Akt/FOXO pathway but also the action of ketone bodies and their potential therapeutic use. This study will be of particular interest to the large community of scientists studying E/I disequilibrium in the nervous system.