In the article, “Induction of Short-Term Sensitization by an Aversive Chemical Stimulus in Zebrafish Larvae,” by Adam C. Roberts, Joseph B. Alzagatiti, Duy T. Ly, Julia M. Chornak, Yuqi Ma, Asif Razee, Gohar Zavradyan, Umair Khan, Julia Lewis, Aishwarya Natarajan, Alisher Baibussinov, Jasmine Emtage, Meghna Komaranchath, Jared Richards, Michelle Hoang, Jason Alipio, Emma Laurent, Amit …

The arcuate nucleus (ArcN) is an integrative hub for the regulation of energy balance, reproduction, and arterial pressure (AP), all of which are influenced by Angiotensin II (AngII); however, the cellular mechanisms and downstream neurocircuitry are unclear. Here, we show that ArcN AngII increases AP in female rats via two phases, both of which are mediated via activation of AngII type 1 receptors (AT1aRs): initial vasopressin-induced vasoconstriction, followed by slowly developing increases in sympathetic nerve activity (SNA) and heart rate (HR). In male rats, ArcN AngII evoked a similarly slow increase in SNA, but the initial pressor response was variable. In females, the effects of ArcN AngII varied during the estrous cycle, with significant increases in SNA, HR, and AP occurring during diestrus and estrus, but only increased AP during proestrus. Pregnancy markedly increased the expression of AT1aR in the ArcN with parallel substantial AngII-induced increases in SNA and MAP. In both sexes, the sympatho...

Insight into the cellular and circuit mechanisms underlying development of temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) will provide a foundation for improved therapies. We studied a model in which an episode of prolonged seizures is followed by recovery lasting two weeks before emergence of spontaneous recurrent seizures. We focused on the interval between the prolonged seizures and the late onset recurrent seizures. We investigated the hippocampal mossy fiber CA3 pyramidal cell microcircuit in models spanning in vitro , in vivo , and ex vivo preparations. Expression of channelrhodopsin-2 in the dentate granule cells of DGC ChR mice enabled the selective activation of mossy fiber axons. In vivo studies revealed marked potentiation of mossy fiber evoked field potentials in hippocampal CA3 beginning within hours following seizures, a potentiation which persisted at least 7 d. Stimulation of mossy fibers in hippocampal slices in vitro using patterns of activity mimicking seizures induced LTP not only of the monosynaptic EPS...

The superior parietal lobule (SPL) integrates somatosensory, motor, and visual signals to dynamically control arm movements. During reaching, visual and gaze signals are used to guide the hand to the desired target location, while proprioceptive signals allow to correct arm trajectory, and keep the limb in the final position at the end of the movement. Three SPL areas are particularly involved in this process: V6A, PEc, PE. Here, we evaluated the influence of eye and arm position on single neuron activity of these areas during the holding period at the end of arm reaching movements, when the arm is motionless and gaze and hand positions are aligned. Two male macaques ( Macaca fascicularis ) performed a foveal reaching task while single unit activity was recorded from areas V6A, PEc, and PE. We found that at the end of reaching movements the neurons of all these areas were modulated by both eye position and static position of the arm. V6A and PEc showed a prevalent combination of gaze and proprioceptive inp...

We are constantly surrounded by a dynamically changing perceptual landscape that can influence our behavior even without our full conscious awareness. Emotional processing can have effects on subsequent attention, but there are mixed findings on whether it induces attentional enhancement or interference. The present study used a new multimodal approach to explain and predict such attentional effects based on individual differences in response to emotional stimuli. We briefly presented affective pictures (neutral, positive, erotic, mutilation, and horror categories) for 80 ms, immediately followed by a cued flanker task that was unrelated to the pictures. Event-related potentials (ERPs), skin conductance response (SCR), and reaction time (RT) were measured for each participant. We found that, in general, affective pictures induced higher electrophysiological responses compared with neutral pictures [P300 and late positive potential (LPP) in the erotic condition; P300, LPP, and SCR in the horror condition]. ...

In the article, “Resting State BOLD Variability of the Posterior Medial Temporal Lobe Correlates with Cognitive Performance in Older Adults with and without Risk for Cognitive Decline,” by Tyler J. Good, Joshua Villafuerte, Jennifer D. Ryan, Cheryl L. Grady, and Morgan D. Barense, which published online on March 19, 2020, Figure 3 B appeared incorrectly. The values for “3. Memory” …

In Drosophila , molecular pathways affecting longevity have been extensively studied. However, corresponding neurophysiological changes underlying aging-related functional and behavioral deteriorations remain to be fully explored. We examined different motor circuits in Drosophila across the life span and uncovered distinctive age-resilient and age-vulnerable trajectories in their established functional properties. In the giant fiber (GF) and downstream circuit elements responsible for the jump-and-flight escape reflex, we observed relatively mild deterioration toward the end of the life span. In contrast, more substantial age-dependent modifications were seen in the plasticity of GF afferent processing, specifically in use dependence and habituation properties. In addition, there were profound changes in different afferent circuits that drive flight motoneuron activities, including flight pattern generation and seizure spike discharges evoked by electroconvulsive stimulation. Importantly, in high-temperat...

Oxytocin (Oxt) controls reproductive physiology and various kinds of social behaviors, but the exact contribution of Oxt to different components of parental care still needs to be determined. Here, we illustrate the neuroanatomical relations of the parental nurturing-induced neuronal activation with magnocellular Oxt neurons and fibers in the medial preoptic area (MPOA), the brain region critical for parental and alloparental behaviors. We used genetically-targeted mouse lines for Oxt , Oxt receptor ( Oxtr ), vasopressin receptor 1a ( Avpr1a ), vasopressin receptor 1b ( Avpr1b ), and thyrotropin-releasing hormone ( Trh ) to systematically examine the role of Oxt-related signaling in pup-directed behaviors. The Oxtr - Avpr1a - Avpr1b triple knock-out (TKO), and Oxt - Trh - Avpr1a - Avpr1b quadruple KO (QKO) mice were grossly healthy and fertile, except for their complete deficiency in milk ejection and modest deficiency in parturition secondary to maternal loss of the Oxt or Oxtr gene. In our minimal stress...

A metanalysis identified regulator of G-protein signaling 6 ( RGS6 ) as one of 23 loci with pleiotropic effects on four or more human psychiatric disorders. This finding is significant as it confirms/extends the findings of numerous other studies implicating RGS6 in CNS function and pathology. RGS6 is a highly conserved member of the RGS protein family whose cellular roles are likely affected by mRNA splicing and alternative domain inclusion/exclusion. Indeed, we previously identified multiple RGS6 splice variants predicted to produce 36 distinct protein isoforms containing either long (RGS6L) or short (RGS6S) N-terminal domains, an incomplete or intact GGL domain, and nine alternative C termini. Unfortunately, sequence similarities between the isoforms have made it difficult to confirm their individual existence and/or to determine their unique functions. Here, we developed three RGS6-specific antibodies that recognize all RGS6 protein isoforms (RGS6-fl), the N-terminus of RGS6L isoforms (RGS6-L), and an ...

Information transfer and integration in the brain occurs at chemical synapses and is mediated by the fusion of synaptic vesicles filled with neurotransmitter. Synaptic vesicle dynamic spatial organization regulates synaptic transmission as well as synaptic plasticity. Because of their small size, synaptic vesicles require electron microscopy (EM) for their imaging, and their analysis is conducted manually. The manual annotation and segmentation of the hundreds to thousands of synaptic vesicles, is highly time consuming and limits the throughput of data collection. To overcome this limitation, we built an algorithm, mainly relying on convolutional neural networks (CNNs), capable of automatically detecting and localizing synaptic vesicles in electron micrographs. The algorithm was trained on murine synapses but we show that it works well on synapses from different species, ranging from zebrafish to human, and from different preparations. As output, we provide the vesicle count and coordinates, the nearest ne...