Evolutionary pressures adapted insect chemosensation to their respective physiological needs and tasks in their ecological niches. Solitary nocturnal moths rely on their acute olfactory sense to find mates at night. Pheromones are detected with maximized sensitivity and high temporal resolution through mechanisms that are mostly unknown. While the inverse topology of insect olfactory receptors and heteromerization with the olfactory receptor coreceptor suggest ionotropic transduction via odorant-gated receptor–ion channel complexes, contradictory data propose amplifying G-protein–coupled transduction. Here, we used in vivo tip-recordings of pheromone-sensitive sensilla of male Manduca sexta hawkmoths at specific times of day (rest vs activity). Since the olfactory receptor neurons distinguish signal parameters in three consecutive temporal windows of their pheromone response (phasic; tonic; late, long-lasting), respective response parameters were analyzed separately. Disruption of G-protein–coupled transdu...

Delayed motor development is an early clinical sign of fetal alcohol spectrum disorders. However, changes at the neural circuit level that underlie early motor differences are underexplored. The striatum, the principal input nucleus of the basal ganglia, plays an important role in motor learning in adult animals, and the maturation of the striatal circuit has been associated with the development of early motor behaviors. Here, we briefly exposed pregnant C57BL/6 dams to ethanol (5% w/w) in a liquid diet on embryonic days 13.5–16.5 and assessed the mouse progeny using a series of nine brief motor behavior tasks on postnatal days 2–14. Live brain slices were then obtained from behaviorally tested mice for whole-cell voltage- and current-clamp electrophysiology to assess GABAergic/glutamatergic synaptic activity and passive/active properties in two populations of striatal neurons: GABAergic interneurons and spiny striatal projection neurons. Electrophysiologically recorded spiny striatal projection neurons we...

Cutaneomuscular reflexes (CMRs) can be recorded in the hand muscle of human subjects after stimulation of a digital nerve. We hypothesized that repeated synchronous stimulation of nerves from two digits may lead to long-term plastic changes in CMR, by the mechanisms of spike-timing–dependent plasticity (STDP). To test this idea, we conducted experiments in 27 healthy human volunteers. After baseline measurement of CMR, one of four 30-min-long stimulation conditions were tested; the CMR was then remeasured. The four conditions were simultaneous index finger and thumb stimulation; asynchronous index finger and thumb stimulation; thumb 5 ms before index finger stimulation; and thumb-only stimulation. Neither the early (E1) nor late excitatory (E2) components of the CMR showed consistent changes after any stimulation condition. The inhibitory (I1) component was slightly reduced in all cases. To understand why paired stimulation did not produce long-term changes, we conducted a further experiment. In this, we m...

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder that affects 8–12% of children globally. Hyperactivity-related behaviors, as well as inattention and impulsivity, are regarded as the nuclear symptoms of ADHD. At present, its etiologies and risk factors are unknown. Previous research linked TARP γ-8 deficiency to ADHD-like behaviors in mice, including hyperactivity, impulsivity, and memory deficits. Aniracetam, a nootropic drug, enhances cognition by modulating cholinergic activity and glutamate receptors, offering neuroprotective effects. This study examined TARP γ-8 knockout (KO) mice at 4 and 8 weeks, assessing behaviors through locomotor activity, cliff avoidance, novel object recognition, and contextual fear conditioning tests. TARP γ-8 KO mice exhibited hyperactivity, reduced recognition memory, and impaired short-term memory and long-term memory. Aniracetam administration improved these behavioral deficits, suggesting its potential as a therapeutic agent for ADHD. The ...

Zebrafish have gained prominence as a model organism in neuroscience over the past several decades, generating key insight into the development and functioning of the vertebrate brain. However, techniques for whole-brain mapping in adult stage zebrafish are lacking. Here, we describe a pipeline built using open-source tools for whole-brain activity mapping in adult zebrafish. Our pipeline combines advances in histology, microscopy, and machine learning to capture c-fos activity across the entirety of the brain. Following tissue clearing, whole-brain images are captured using light-sheet microscopy and registered to the recently created adult zebrafish brain atlas (AZBA) for automated segmentation. By way of example, we used our pipeline to measure brain activity after zebrafish were subject to the novel tank test, one of the most widely used behaviors in adult zebrafish. c-fos levels peaked 15 min following behavior and several regions, including those containing serotoninergic and dopaminergic neurons, we...

Anterior–posterior interactions in the alpha band (8–12 Hz) have been implicated in various functions including perception, attention, and working memory. The underlying neural communication can be flexibly controlled by adjusting phase relations when activities across anterior–posterior regions oscillate at a matched frequency. We thus investigated how alpha oscillation frequencies spontaneously converged along anterior–posterior regions by tracking oscillatory EEG activity while participants rested. As more anterior–posterior regions (scalp sites) frequency-converged, the probability of additional regions joining the frequency convergence increased, and so did oscillatory synchronization (i.e., oscillatory power) at participating regions, suggesting that anterior–posterior frequency convergences are driven by inter-regional entrainment. Notably, frequency convergences were accompanied by two types of approximately linear phase gradients, one progressively phase lagged in the anterior direction, the poste...

The annual Society for Neuroscience (SfN) meeting is a bonanza of scientific achievement: famous keynote speakers, beautiful scientific results, and award ceremonies. This focus is exciting and invigorating but glosses over the many failures, mistakes, and rejections that typically lead to scientific success. Our goal has been to create a space within the annual SfN meeting for open conversation about scientific failure and, by doing so, increase transparency, resilience, and mental well-being within our community. In this article, we share the materials that we have used at SfN during the past 4 years (2021–2024) to promote discussions of scientific failure, including formal storytelling, individual and interactive games, and confessionals. For each activity, we provide the rationale and practical guidance regarding logistics and usage. We hope this will aid scientists interested in adapting the activities for their own communities or local events. We end with a call for scientific institutions to commit ...

While ketamine, an NMDA receptor antagonist, is effective in treating major depression, studies have not addressed the safety of repeated ketamine infusions in depressed patients with comorbid alcohol use disorder (AUD). In this study, we aimed to determine whether a history of chronic social isolation and alcohol exposure alter the reinforcing properties of ketamine in male and female rats. Rats were pair-housed or socially isolated for 12 weeks and underwent intermittent access to 20% alcohol. Subsequently, rats underwent intravenous ketamine self-administration under a fixed ratio 1 schedule, followed by extinction training and one session of cue-induced reinstatement. Dendritic spine morphology was examined in the nucleus accumbens, an important area implicated in reward and motivation. Our results show that females self-administered more ketamine than males, a history of alcohol increased ketamine intake in females, and a history of isolation or alcohol independently increased ketamine intake in males...

Maintenance of normal structure of the enteric nervous system (ENS), which regulates key gastrointestinal functions, requires robust homeostatic mechanisms, since by virtue of its location within the gut wall, the ENS is subject to constant mechanical, chemical, and biological stressors. Using transgenic and thymidine analog-based experiments, we previously discovered that neuronal turnover—where continual neurogenesis offsets ongoing neuronal loss at steady state—represents one such mechanism. Although other studies confirmed that neuronal death continues into adulthood in the myenteric plexus of the ENS, the complicated nature of thymidine analog presents challenges in substantiating the occurrence of adult neurogenesis. Therefore, it is vital to employ alternative, well-recognized techniques to substantiate the existence of adult enteric neurogenesis in the healthy gut. Here, by using established methods of assessing nuclear DNA content and detecting known mitotic marker phosphor-histone H3 (pH3) in Hu+...

Neurons adapt to chronic activity changes by modifying synaptic properties, including neurotransmitter release. However, whether neuropeptide release via dense core vesicles (DCVs)—a distinct regulated secretory pathway—undergoes similar adaptation remains unclear. Here, we demonstrate that 24 h action potential blockade leads to significant DCV accumulation in primary mouse cortical neurons of both sexes. Reactivation with action potential trains induced enhanced Ca2+ influx and 700% more DCV exocytosis compared with control neurons. Notably, total DCV cargo protein levels were unchanged, while mRNA levels of corresponding genes were reduced. Blocking neurotransmitter release with Tetanus toxin induced DCV accumulation, similar to that induced by network silencing with TTX. Hence, chronic network silencing triggers increased DCV accumulation due to reduced exocytosis during silencing. These accumulated DCVs can be released upon reactivation resulting in a massive potentiation of DCV exocytosis, possibly c...