In the article “A Novel Neuron-Specific Regulator of the V-ATPase in Drosophila ,” by Amina Dulac, Abdul-Raouf Issa, Jun Sun, Giorgio Matassi, Célia Jonas, Baya Chérif-Zahar, Daniel Cattaert, and Serge …

fMRI studies that investigate somatotopic tactile representations in the human cortex typically use either block or phase-encoded stimulation designs. Event-related (ER) designs allow for more flexible and unpredictable stimulation sequences than the other methods, but they are less efficient. Here, we compared an efficiency-optimized fast ER design (2.8-s average intertrial interval; ITI) to a conventional slow ER design (8-s average ITI) for mapping voxelwise fingertip tactile tuning properties in the sensorimotor cortex of six participants at 7 Tesla. The fast ER design yielded more reliable responses compared with the slow ER design, but with otherwise similar tuning properties. Concatenating the fast and slow ER data, we demonstrate in each individual brain the existence of two separate somatotopically-organized tactile representations of the fingertips, one in the primary somatosensory cortex (S1) on the postcentral gyrus, and the other shared across the motor and premotor cortices on the precentral ...

Pregnancy is associated with extraordinary plasticity in the maternal brain. Studies in humans and other mammals suggest extensive structural and functional remodeling of the female brain during and after pregnancy. However, we understand remarkably little about the molecular underpinnings of this natural phenomenon. To gain insight into pregnancy-associated hippocampal plasticity, we performed single nucleus RNA sequencing (snRNA-seq) and snATAC-seq from the mouse hippocampus before, during, and after pregnancy. We identified cell type-specific transcriptional and epigenetic signatures associated with pregnancy and postpartum adaptation. In addition, we analyzed receptor-ligand interactions and transcription factor (TF) motifs that inform hippocampal cell type identity and provide evidence of pregnancy-associated adaption. In total, these data provide a unique resource of coupled transcriptional and epigenetic data across a dynamic time period in the mouse hippocampus and suggest opportunities for functio...

Video recording is essential for behavioral neuroscience research, but the majority of available systems suffer from poor cost-to-functionality ratio. Commercial options frequently come at high financial cost that prohibits scalability and throughput, whereas DIY solutions often require significant expertise and time investment unaffordable to many researchers. To address this, we combined a low-cost Raspberry Pi microcomputer, DIY electronics peripherals, freely available open-source firmware, and custom 3D-printed casings to create Pi USB Cam, a simple yet powerful and highly versatile video recording solution. Pi USB Cam is constructed using affordable and widely available components and requires no expertise to build and implement. The result is a system that functions as a plug-and-play USB camera that can be easily installed in various animal testing and housing sites and is readily compatible with popular behavioral and neural recording software. Here, we provide a comprehensive parts list and step-...

Multiple recent studies have shown that motor activity greatly impacts the activity of primary sensory areas like V1. Yet, the role of this motor related activity in sensory processing is still unclear. Here, we dissect how these behavior signals are broadcast to different layers and areas of the visual cortex. To do so, we leveraged a standardized and spontaneous behavioral fidget event in passively viewing mice. Importantly, this behavior event had no relevance to any ongoing task allowing us to compare its neuronal correlates with visually relevant behaviors (e.g., running). A large two-photon Ca2+ imaging database of neuronal responses uncovered four neural response types during fidgets that were consistent in their proportion and response patterns across all visual areas and layers of the visual cortex. Indeed, the layer and area identity could not be decoded above chance level based only on neuronal recordings. In contrast to running behavior, fidget evoked neural responses that were independent to v...

The development of validated algorithms for automated handling of artifacts is essential for reliable and fast processing of EEG signals. Recently, there have been methodological advances in designing machine-learning algorithms to improve artifact detection of trained professionals who usually meticulously inspect and manually annotate EEG signals. However, validation of these methods is hindered by the lack of a gold standard as data are mostly private and data annotation is time consuming and error prone. In the effort to circumvent these issues, we propose an iterative learning model to speed up and reduce errors of manual annotation of EEG. We use a convolutional neural network (CNN) to train on expert-annotated eyes-open and eyes-closed resting-state EEG data from typically developing children ( n = 30) and children with neurodevelopmental disorders ( n = 141). To overcome the circular reasoning of aiming to develop a new algorithm and benchmarking to a manually-annotated gold standard, we instead ai...

The molecular circadian clock can be found throughout the body and is essential for the synchronizing cellular physiology with the 24 h day. However, the role of the clock in regulating the regenerative potential of the brain has not been explored. We report here that murine NG2-glia, the largest population of proliferative cells in the mature central nervous system, rhythmically express circadian clock genes in a 24 h period, including the critical clock component Bmal1 RNA and BMAL1 protein. Interestingly, daily NG2-glia proliferation preferentially occurs during the time of day in which Bmal1 expression is high, while conditional knockout of Bmal1 decreases both cortical NG2-glia density and cellular proliferation. Furthermore, in a neurotrauma model, we show that pathology-induced NG2-glia proliferation is also dependent on Bmal1 expression. Because circadian rhythm disturbances are common in neurologic disorders across the life span, including in traumatic brain injury, these findings bear significant...

Dravet syndrome (DS) is a catastrophic form of pediatric epilepsy mainly caused by noninherited mutations in the SCN1A gene. DS patients suffer severe and life-threatening focal and generalized seizures which are often refractory to available anti-seizure medication. Antisense oligonucleotides (ASOs) based approaches may offer treatment opportunities in DS. MicroRNAs are short noncoding RNAs that play a key role in brain structure and function by post-transcriptionally regulating gene expression, including ion channels. Inhibiting miRNA-134 (miR-134) using an antimiR ASO (Ant-134) has been shown to reduce evoked seizures in juvenile and adult mice and reduce epilepsy development in models of focal epilepsy. The present study investigated the levels of miR-134 and whether Ant-134 could protect against hyperthermia-induced seizures, spontaneous seizures and mortality (SUDEP) in F1. Scn1a( +/− )tm1kea mice. At P17, animals were intracerebroventricular injected with 0.1–1 nmol of Ant-134 and subject to a hyper...

Implantation of guide cannulas is a widely used technique to access specific brain areas. Although commercially available, the need to personalize these implants and the high cost prompted us to design open-source customized devices taking advantage of 3D printing technology. Our cannulas consisted in a 3D-printed head mount designed according to the Paxinos coordinates to reach the CA1 area of the hippocampus. To cut guide cannulas to the proper length, we designed and realized an original 3D-printed linear motion apparatus. Polylactic acid thermoplastic polymer was used as printing material. Homemade or commercial cannulas were implanted in 4- to 6-month-old wild-type mice and intrahippocampal injections of amyloid-β peptide at different concentrations were performed. In vivo behavioral studies of novel object recognition indicated that results obtained with homemade versus commercial devices were comparable. Methylene blue injections and Nissl staining confirmed the correct localization of cannulas in t...

Fragile X syndrome (FXS) is a leading monogenic cause of intellectual disability and autism spectrum disorders, spurring decades of intense research and a multitude of mouse models. So far, these models do not recapitulate the genetic underpinning of classical FXS—CGG repeat-induced methylation of the Fmr1 locus—and their findings have failed to translate into the clinic. We sought to answer whether this disparity was because of low repeat length and generated a novel mouse line with 341 repeats, Fmr1hs341 , which is the largest allele in mice reported to date. This repeat length is significantly longer than the 200 repeats generally required for methylation of the repeat tract and promoter region in FXS patients, which leads to silencing of the FMR1 gene. Bisulfite sequencing fails to detect the robust methylation expected of FXS in Fmr1hs341 mice. Quantitative real-time PCR and Western blotting results also do not resemble FXS and instead produce a biochemical profile consistent with the fragile X-associ...