Scientific Research

Human Brain Malformations Webinar

Mon, 27 Jun 2016 00:00:00 GMT

Brain malformations, especially those affecting the cerebral cortex, are common causes of intellectual disability and epilepsy. Recent advances in genetics, imaging, and cell biology have substantially increased our knowledge of the mechanisms underlying cortical development and how it can go awry.

Changing Animal Rights Tactics and What It Means for Todays Researchers

Wed, 29 Jun 2016 00:00:00 GMT

Tune into this webinar, featuring three experts with unique perspectives, to learn about the progression of animal models, including discussions of improved treatment, successes of regulation, including APHIS regulations and the three Rs, and the current status of animal rights.

Data Science Approaches for Neuroscientists

Thu, 22 Sep 2016 00:00:00 GMT

Neuroscientists are now collecting datasets of unprecedented scale thanks to technological advances. Yet, there are many unanswered questions that must be addressed to keep moving the field forward.

In this webinar moderated by Gardiner von Trapp, panelists Michael Miller, Richard Myers, and Pascal Wallisch discuss:

What types of research problems can a data-science approach solve?

How will neuroscientists analyze large-scale data sets most effectively, and with what tools?

What training challenges do mentors and trainees face for implementing large-scale data science practices?

What skills are valuable for neuroscientists to have to successfully understand and adopt this approach?

Linking Mitochondria to Neurological Disease

Mon, 19 Jun 2017 00:00:00 GMT

Our understanding of the cell biology of mitochondria has exploded in the last decade, providing a renewed understanding of their contribution to neurological diseases ranging from pediatric encephalomyopathies to Alzheimer’s, Huntington’s, and others.

In this webcast, select faculty from the 2016 Neurobiology of Disease Workshop will continue the discussion, emphasizing mitochondrial motility and neurodegeneration, mitochondrial function in Alzheimer ’s disease, and the role of mitochondria in immunity and links to neuroinflammation. After the scientific presentations, join all speakers in the Neuronline Community for a live chat.

Tricks of the Trade How to Review a Modelling Paper

Fri, 10 Mar 2017 00:00:00 GMT

In the second Tricks of the Trade webcast, learn or refresh your skills on reviewing modelling papers in this webcast hosted by eNeuro Editor-in-Chief Christophe Bernard. This is your chance to understand best practices that will help you become proficient at assessing the validity of scientific conclusions based on the data presented.

Mechanisms of Post-Ischemic Brain Adaptation

Mon, 28 Jun 2021 15:50:00 GMT

This webinar is exclusive for SfN members ;and FENS members. Please ;log in ;or link your FENs membership ;for access.

All living organisms are able to implement adaptation mechanisms that allow them to survive even in the most extreme conditions.

Cerebral ischemia represents an extreme condition in which CNS cells are called upon to automate adaptations that ensure survival. This concept is exemplified and perfectly reproduced in the tolerance induced by the phenomena of ischemic conditioning.

Ischemic conditioning is used to group together a few different stressors or interventions able to confer resistance to a deleterious brain event as an adaptive biological process. Ischemic conditioning through the exposure to a sub-threshold insult as above mentioned, can confer neuroprotection both if conditioning stimuli is applied before, as preconditioning stimulus, or if it is delivered after the harmful ischemia, as occurs in postconditioning.

Over the years, several molecular pathways have been proposed as plausible mechanisms to explain the adaptive phenomena induced by hypoxia. ;

This webinar will discuss mechanisms involved in post-ischemic brain adaptation. The knowledge of these mechanisms may provide information to bring light on those molecular pathways involved in brain protection.

In this webinar, speakers will cover points including:

Post-ischemic brain remodeling and plasticity, evaluating pathomechanisms contributing to secondary brain injury and searching strategies that promote neurological recovery in the post-acute stroke phase.
What the function of peripheral events in inducing brain tolerance to stroke.
The plethora of factors that can influence the tolerance phenomenon occurring during pre- and post-conditioning
Why it is important to escape a neuron-centric view and to consider the role of other cell types, including small vessels, in the mechanism of brain adaptation. ;

Non-coding RNAs in Nervous System Function and Disease

Thu, 25 Mar 2021 16:56:00 GMT

This webinar is exclusive for SfN members and FENS members. Please ;log in ;or link your FENs membership ;for access.

Thousands of non-coding (nc)RNAs have been identified with functions in processes, such as translation regulation and RNA processing. Different classes of ncRNAs exist, including microRNAs, circRNAs and tRNAs, some of which are enriched in the nervous system and neural cells. This webinar will discuss some of the functions of these ncRNAs in the developing and adult brain and highlights how their deregulation contributes to brain trauma and disease.

Neurobiology of Disease Webinar Stroke Recovery

Tue, 28 Apr 2015 00:00:00 GMT

From stem cells to brain-computer interfaces, novel functional neuroimaging techniques to new animal model approaches, stroke research is pushing the boundaries of neuroscience.

The Neurobiology of Disease Workshop ;provides students and early-career scientists with in-depth overviews of diseases of the nervous system.

In this webinar, faculty from the 2014 Neurobiology of Disease Workshop will further develop topics introduced in the live session and explore the role of brain age in pediatric and neonatal strokes and gender effects.

COVID-19, the Brain, and Mental Health: Weighing the Direct and Indirect Effects

Mon, 06 Jul 2020 16:02:00 GMT

Closed captioning is available during on-demand viewing. Please click the CC button in the Media Player window to enable captioning.

While COVID-19 is often thought of as primarily a respiratory disease, many neurological symptoms are present in those affected. Societal changes in response to the pandemic, such as social isolation and economic disruption, influence mental health. In this webinar, we will discuss recent findings on the direct and indirect implications of COVID-19 on the health and function of the nervous system.

After this webinar, participants will be able to:

Describe the effects of the COVID-19 virus on these sense of smell.
Identify other possible direct effects of the COVID-19 virus on brain function.
Discuss how the social and economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic can affect mental health and well-being.
Explain why the indirect impacts of COVID-19 on mental health and well-being are not felt equally across groups.

Meet-the-Expert: Feeling the Pressure – My Path to Sensory Neuroscience with Ellen A. Lumpkin, PhD

Wed, 12 Aug 2020 00:00:00 GMT

This webinar is exclusive for SfN members. Please log in or join or renew your membership below for access.

A first-generation college student from rural East Texas, Ellen A. Lumpkin pursued a non-traditional career path from vocational agriculture to sensory neuroscience. Over the past two decades, Lumpkin's group has discovered how epithelial Merkel cells collaborate with the nervous system to encode different qualities of touch sensation. In this interactive Meet-the-Expert session, Lumpkin will present highlights of her research and discuss factors that helped her persist along the high-pressure journey to academic neuroscience.

After the talk, Sheena Josselyn will moderate a 30-minute conversation in which you'll have an opportunity to pose questions through a Q&A box. After this virtual session, participants at all career stages will be able to:

Identify features that distinguish primary versus secondary sensory cells.
Achieve a better understanding of how to dissect the cellular basis of sensation using transgenic mice, optogenetics and neurophysiology.
Describe classical criteria for chemical synaptic transmission.

Meet-the-Expert: Creating a Multimodal Brain Cell Type Atlas With Hongkui Zeng, PhD

Thu, 04 Jun 2020 00:00:00 GMT

This resource was featured in the NeuroJobs Career Center. Visit today to search the world’;s largest source of neuroscience opportunities.

To understand the function of the brain and how its dysfunction leads to brain diseases, it is essential to have a deep understanding of the cell type composition of the brain, how the cell types are connected with each other, and what their roles are in circuit function.

Join this interactive Meet-the-Expert session to hear Hongkui Zeng discuss her research team’;s experience in building multiple platforms and generating large-scale datasets to characterize the transcriptomic, physiological, morphological, and connectional properties of different types of neurons in a standardized manner, toward a multimodal taxonomy of cell types and a description of their wiring diagram for the mouse brain, with a primary focus on the cortex.

Ask an Expert: Estimation Statistics and Statistical Power

Thu, 21 May 2020 00:00:00 GMT

Join experts Robert Calin-Jageman and Katherine Button as they discuss their work in estimation statistics and statistical power. Watch the short videos introducing this work below, then watch the webinar as they, along with moderator, eNeuro Editor-in-Chief, Christophe Bernard, answer questions about how these statistical practices apply to your own work.

Early Life Stress: Impact on Brain and Psychopathology

Mon, 14 Oct 2019 00:00:00 GMT

Effects of early life stress are found to be dependent on many factors, including sex and genetic background, the age of early exposure, and the age and context within which the long-term impact is examined.

This webinar will discuss the resultant high individual variability of early life stress and its impact on coping abilities and cognitive functions later in life.

Interoception Primes Emotional Processing: Multimodal Evidence from Neurodegeneration

Thu, 06 May 2021 00:00:00 GMT

This webinar is exclusive for SfN members. Please log in ;for access.

Watch this interactive session as Paula Salamone and Agustín Ibañez discuss their recent JNeurosci paper, “Interoception Primes Emotional Processing: Multimodal Evidence from Neurodegeneration.” After the talk, JNeurosci Editor-in-Chief Marina Picciotto moderates a conversation.

This webinar is also available as a podcast, as a part of Neuro Current: An SfN Journals Podcast series. All Neuro Current podcasts are also available on Spotify ;and ;Apple Podcasts.

Below is the significance statement ;of Interoception Primes Emotional Processing: Multimodal Evidence from Neurodegeneration, published on April 7, 2021, in JNeurosci and authored by Paula C. Salamone, Agustina Legaz, Lucas Sedeño, Sebastián Moguilner, Matías Fraile-Vazquez, Cecilia Gonzalez Campo, Sol Fittipaldi, Adrián Yoris, Magdalena Miranda, Agustina Birba, Agostina Galiani, Sofía Abrevaya, Alejandra Neely, Miguel Martorell Caro, Florencia Alifano, Roque Villagra, Florencia Anunziata, Maira Okada de Oliveira, Ricardo M. Pautassi, Andrea Slachevsky, Cecilia Serrano, Adolfo M. García, and Agustín Ibañez.

Salamone, Legaz, et al. examined whether and how emotions are primed by interoceptive states combining multimodal measures in healthy controls and neurodegenerative models. In controls, negative emotion recognition and ongoing heart-evoked potential modulations were increased after interoception. These patterns were selectively disrupted in patients with atrophy across key interoceptive-emotional regions (e.g., the insula and the cingulate in frontotemporal dementia, frontostriatal networks in Parkinson’;s disease), whereas persons with Alzheimer’;s disease presented generalized emotional processing abnormalities with preserved interoceptive mechanisms. The integration of both domains was associated to the volume and connectivity (salience network) of canonical interoceptive-emotional hubs, critically involving the insula and the anterior cingulate. This study reveals multimodal markers of interoceptive-emotional priming, laying the groundwork for new agendas in cognitive neuroscience and behavioral neurology.

Neuron Replating, a Powerful and Versatile Approach to Study Early Aspects of Neuron Differentiation

Mon, 24 May 2021 18:50:00 GMT

This webinar is exclusive for SfN members. Please ;log in for access.

This webinar is exclusive for SfN members. Join or renew for access. SfN members have full access to JNeurosci through their membership. Activate your account to start reading. All eNeuro articles are available open access at eneuro.org.

Join this interactive session as Felix Schneider discusses his recent paper, “Neuron Replating, a Powerful and Versatile Approach to Study Early Aspects of Neuron Differentiation” with eNeuro Editor-in-Chief Christophe Bernard. Attendees can submit questions at registration and live during the webinar. ;

Below is the significance statement of Neuron Replating, a Powerful and Versatile Approach to Study Early Aspects of Neuron Differentiation, published on May 6, 2021, in eNeuro and authored by Felix Schneider, Thuy-An Duong, and Marco B. Rust

Unraveling the molecular mechanisms that control neuron differentiation requires reporter gene expression or gene inactivation. In mouse primary hippocampal neurons, a widely used cellular system to study neuron differentiation, classical transfection methods are restricted to later stages of differentiation. Instead, electroporation allows genetic manipulation before seeding. However, time course of reporter gene expression or gene inactivation frequently hinders a full characterization of neuron differentiation, specifically of early stages. To circumvent this limitation, we combined electroporation-based genetic manipulation before initial seeding with a replating step after 2 d in vitro (DIV), which reset neurons into an undifferentiated stage. We show that replated neurons differentiated similar to non-replated neurons. We provide a detailed protocol that allows to comprehensively characterize the molecular mechanisms underlying neuron differentiation.

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Transcranial Random Noise Stimulation Acutely Lowers the Response Threshold of Human Motor Circuits

Tue, 31 Aug 2021 16:40:00 GMT

This webinar is exclusive for SfN members. Please ;log in for access.

Join this interactive session as Weronika Potok and Nicole Wenderoth discuss their paper, “Transcranial Random Noise Stimulation Acutely Lowers the Response Threshold of Human Motor Circuits” with JNeurosci Editor-in-Chief Marina Picciotto. Attendees can submit questions at registration and live during the webinar. ; ;

Below is the significance statement of Transcranial Random Noise Stimulation Acutely Lowers the Response Threshold of Human Motor Circuits, published on April 28, 2021, in JNeurosci and authored by Weronika Potok, Marc Bächinger, Onno van der Groen, Andreea Loredana Cretu, and Nicole Wenderoth. ;

A hallmark feature of stochastic resonance (SR) is that signal processing can benefit from added noise. This has mainly been demonstrated at the single-cell level in vitro where the neural response to weak input signals can be enhanced by simultaneously applying random noise. Our finding that transcranial random noise stimulation (tRNS) acutely increases the excitability of corticomotor circuits extends the principle of noise benefits to the neural population level in human cortex. Our finding is in line with the notion that tRNS might affect cortical processing via the SR phenomenon. It suggests that enhancing the response of cortical populations to an external stimulus might be one neurophysiological mechanism mediating performance improvements when tRNS is applied to sensory cortex during perception tasks. ;

Input-Independent Homeostasis of Developing Thalamocortical Activity

Thu, 20 May 2021 14:36:00 GMT

This webinar is exclusive for SfN members. Please log in ;for access.

Join this interactive session as Matthew Colonnese discusses his recent ;eNeuro ;paper, “Input-Independent Homeostasis of Developing Thalamocortical Activity.” After the talk, ;eNeuro ;Editor-in-Chief Christophe Bernard will moderate the discussion and take questions from the audience. You can submit questions through registration and will have the opportunity to pose questions during the webinar through a Q&A box. ; ;

Below is the significance statement of ;Input-Independent Homeostasis of Developing Thalamocortical Activity, published on May 4, 2021, in ;eNeuro ;and authored by Pouria Riyahi, Marnie A Phillips, and Matthew T Colonnese.

Uncovering the mechanistic underpinnings of EEG development is critical to increasing the diagnostic potential of this cheap and portable methodology. An important component of this maturation is the acquisition of activity that is continuous, i.e. lacking silent periods. Here we used background activity in the visual cortex of developing unanesthetized mice to show that the primary sensory input plays little role in the development of continuity and normal firing rates, which instead appear to be regulated by mechanism internal to thalamus and cortex. These findings suggest that damage to driving thalamic inputs will be difficult to detect by EEG, and point to the importance of firing rate homeostasis in regulating even early development.

Identification of Novel Cross-Talk Between the Neuroendocrine and Autonomic Stress Axes Controlling Blood Pressure

Sun, 27 Jun 2021 15:40:00 GMT

This webinar is exclusive for SfN members. Please ;log in for access.

Join this interactive session as Khalid Elsaafien and Eric Krause discuss their paper, “Identification of Novel Cross-Talk between the Neuroendocrine and Autonomic Stress Axes Controlling Blood Pressure” with JNeurosci Editor-in-Chief Marina Picciotto. Attendees can submit questions at registration and live during the webinar.

Below is the significance statement of Identification of Novel Cross-Talk between the Neuroendocrine and Autonomic Stress Axes Controlling Blood Pressure, published on May 26, 2021, in JNeurosci and authored by Khalid Elsaafien, Matthew K. Kirchner, Mazher Mohammed, Sophia A. Eikenberry, Chloe West, Karen A. Scott, Annette D. de Kloet, Javier E. Stern, and Eric G. Krause.

The survival of an organism is dependent on meeting the energetic demands imposed by stressors. This critical function is accomplished by the CNS's ability to orchestrate simultaneous activities of neurosecretory and autonomic axes. Here, we unveil a novel signaling mechanism within the paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus that links excitation of neurons producing corticotropin-releasing-hormone with excitation of neurons controlling sympathetic nervous system activity and blood pressure. The implication is that chronic stress exposure may promote cardiometabolic disease by dysregulating the interneuronal cross-talk revealed by our experiments.

Human Hippocampal Neurons Track Moments in a Sequence of Events

Tue, 31 Aug 2021 17:12:00 GMT

Join this interactive session as Dr. Leila Reddy discusses her paper, “Human Hippocampal Neurons Track Moments in a Sequence of Events” with JNeurosci Editor-in-Chief Marina Picciotto. Attendees can submit questions at registration and live during the webinar.

Below is the significance statement of the paper published on August 4, 2021, in JNeurosci and authored by Leila Reddy, Benedikt Zoefel, Jessy K. Possel, Judith Peters, Doris E. Dijksterhuis, Marlene Poncet, Elisabeth C. W. van Straaten, Johannes C. Baayen, Sander Idema, and Matthew W. Self. ; ;

Episodic memory refers to our ability to remember the what, where, and when of a past experience. Representing time is an important component of this form of memory. Here, we show that neurons in the human hippocampus represent temporal information. This temporal signature was observed both when participants were actively engaged in a memory task, as well as during 10-s-long gaps when they were asked to wait before performing the task. Furthermore, the activity of the population of hippocampal cells allowed for decoding one temporal epoch from another. These results suggest a robust representation of time in the human hippocampus. ;

Improving Experimental Rigor and Enhancing Data Reproducibility in Neuroscience

Tue, 30 Jan 2018 00:00:00 GMT

The topics of scientific rigor and data reproducibility have been increasingly covered in the scientific and mainstream media, and are being addressed by publishers, professional organizations, and funding agencies, including NIH. This webinar —; the first in a series titled ;Promoting Awareness and Knowledge to Enhance Scientific Rigor in Neuroscience—; will address topics of scientific rigor as they pertain to pre-clinical neuroscience research.

Webinar attendees will leave the session with:

A better understanding of the issues surrounding scientific rigor and the lack of data reproducibility in basic neuroscience research
Example best practices for designing pre-clinical experiments and planning for data collection
An overview of the new grant sections required by the NIH to address issues of experimental rigor and data reproducibility

Best Practices in Post Experimental Data Analysis

Fri, 22 Apr 2016 00:00:00 GMT

Proper data handling standards, including appropriate use of statistical tests are integral to rigorous and reproducible neuroscience research. Training in quantitative neuroscience is a specific area of emphasis for the ;BRAIN Initiative, and rigorous statistical analysis methods are included in the recent ;Proposed Principals and Guidelines for Reporting Preclinical Research ;endorsed by NIH and multiple scientific associations, journals, and societies.

This webinar —; the third in SfN’;s ;Promoting Awareness and Knowledge to Enhance Scientific Rigor in Neuroscience ;series —; will cover best practices in post-experimental data analysis.

Experimental Design to Minimize Systemic Biases: Lessons From Rodent Behavioral Assays and Electrophysiology Studies

Thu, 03 Nov 2016 00:00:00 GMT

Common sources of bias in animal behavior and electrophysiology experiments can be minimized or outright avoided by following best practices of unbiased experimental design and data. In this webinar —; the fifth in SfN’;s Promoting Awareness and Knowledge to Enhance Scientific Rigor in Neuroscience series —; presenters will discuss experimental design and hypothesis testing for mouse behavioral assays, as well as sampling, interpretational bias, and referencing in in vitro and in vivo electrophysiology recording studies.

Statistical Applications in Neuroscience

Thu, 03 Nov 2016 00:00:00 GMT

How can neuroscientists improve the reproducibility of statistical plans and scientific discoveries? In this webinar —; the sixth in SfN’;s ;Promoting Awareness and Knowledge to Enhance Scientific Rigor in Neuroscience ;series —; presenters will discuss common applications of statistics in neuroscience, including what types of research questions statistics are best positioned to address, modeling paradigms, and exploratory data analysis. Presenters will provide real world examples of these issues from their own research backgrounds.

Tricks of the Trade How to Peer Review a Manuscript

Thu, 10 Mar 2016 00:00:00 GMT

Are you curious about how to review a manuscript? Are you a first-time reviewer and seeking guidance? Have you been reviewing papers for a while but want to improve your skills?

Join this webinar with eNeuro Advisory Board member Margaret McCarthy to participate in an actual review of a real manuscript and compare yourself to the experts. The presenter will provide a step-by-step analysis of the review process and provide answers to your questions and concerns.

Best Practices in Data Management and Reporting

Mon, 27 Jun 2016 00:00:00 GMT

In this webinar, ;presenters will discuss best practices for data management and reporting, particularly when dealing with information security; archiving and disclosure of data analytics; and data management on teams that include collaborators around the globe.

Gene Therapy to Address Unmet Needs in Neurology

Thu, 12 Jul 2018 00:00:00 GMT

Advances in gene therapy have propelled the field into the clinical realm, and new medical treatment options are beginning to offer help in neurological diseases long thought to be incurable.

In this webinar on July 12, select faculty from the 2017 Neurobiology of Disease Workshop held will continue the discussion on:

Gene targeted therapies for spinal muscular atrophy.
Gene addition in hematopoietic stem-cells for leukodystrophies.
Adeno-associated virus gene delivery for neurological disease.

After the scientific presentations, join the speakers in the Neuronline Community for a live chat. Feel free to leave your questions in the Neuronline Community in advance of the live chat.

Electrical Stimulation Improves Learning in Schizophrenia

Thu, 07 Apr 2016 00:00:00 GMT

Material below summarizes the article ;Medial-Frontal Stimulation Enhances Learning in Schizophrenia by Restoring Prediction Error Signaling, ;published on September 2, 2015, in ;JNeurosci ;and authored ;by Robert M.G. Reinhart, Julia Zhu, Sohee Park, and Geoffrey F. Woodman.

People with schizophrenia often persist in their beliefs and strategies even when evidence suggests they are wrong. Neuroscientists have shown that there is a signal in the brain that carries information about when there is a mismatch between what we expect to happen in the future and what we actually experience. This mismatch signal is called prediction error and it plays an important role in teaching us how we can improve our behavior and learn in new and changing environments. It is theorized that a disruption in prediction error underlies the learning and decision-making problems in patients with schizophrenia, as well as the major psychotic symptoms of this illness, such as hallucinations and delusions.

Extending the Range of Cellular Imaging: Sodium and Calcium at the Same Time

Thu, 30 Jun 2016 00:00:00 GMT

Material below summarizes the article ;Simultaneous Sodium and Calcium Imaging from Dendrites and Axons, published on October 14, 2015, in ;eNeuro ;and authored by Kenichi Miyazaki and William N. Ross.

Dynamic calcium imaging is an important technique. It can reveal information about the location of various calcium channels and calcium permeable receptors; the time course, magnitude, and location of intracellular calcium concentration ([Ca²⁺]_i) changes; and indirectly, the occurrence of action potentials.

Dynamic sodium imaging, a less-used technique, can reveal analogous information related to sodium signaling. In some cases, like the imaging of AMPA and NMDA receptor responses to synaptic stimulation, detection of both [Ca²⁺]_i ;and [Na⁺]_{i ;}changes in the same preparation may provide more information than separate measurements. This is because both receptors are permeable to sodium, but only the NMDA receptor is permeable to calcium.

Exercise Motivation, Mood States, and the Dorsal Medial Habenula

Thu, 03 Nov 2016 00:00:00 GMT

The material below summarizes the article ;Dorsal Medial Habenula Regulation of Mood-Related Behaviors and Primary Reinforcement by Tachykinin-Expressing Habenula Neurons, published on July 1, 2016, in ;eNeuro ;and authored by Yun-Wei A. Hsu, Glenn Morton, Elizabeth G. Guy, Si D. Wang, and Eric E. Turner.

Our lab focuses on the development and function of a relatively obscure brain region called the habenula. The habenula has three principal anatomical regions: the lateral habenula, ventral medial habenula (vMHb), and dorsal medial habenula (dMHb). In early studies, these regions were treated as a unit, but in recent work, their distinct circuits and functions have begun to emerge.

Flexible Learning of Cue-Reward Associations in Human Ventromedial Prefrontal Cortex

Thu, 11 Aug 2016 00:00:00 GMT

Material below summarizes the article ;Dissociating Value Representation and Inhibition of Inappropriate Affective Response During Reversal Learning in the Ventromedial Prefrontal Cortex, published on December 29, 2015, in ;eNeuro ;and authored by Zhihao Zhang, Avi Mendelsohn, Kirk F. Manson, Daniela Schiller, and Ifat Levy. ;

When you are hungry, the smell of a hearty meal is a cue for potential reward. The same smell, however, may not be perceived as much of a cue for reward at the end of a big meal because the meal has reduced the value of food. Other cues, such as the smell of coffee, may become reward-predictive instead. To allow such flexible updating of values, the brain needs to encode current value and inhibit value representations that are no longer valid.

A Point Mutation in the Cannabinoid Receptor Drives Adolescent Behavior

Thu, 02 Jun 2016 00:00:00 GMT

Material below summarizes the article ;Enhanced Functional Activity of the Cannabinoid Type-1 Receptor Mediates Adolescent Behavior, ;on October 14, 2015, in ;JNeurosci ;and authored ;by Miriam Schneider, Fernando Kasanetz, Diane L. Lynch, Chris M. Friemel, Olivier Lassalle, Dow P. Hurst, Frauke Steindel, Krisztina Monory, Carola Schäfer, Isabelle Miederer, F. Markus Leweke, Mathias Schreckenberger, Beat Lutz, Patricia H. Reggio, Olivier J. Manzoni, and Rainer Spanagel.

Adolescence can be a rough and turbulent ride —; not only for teenagers, but for everyone else around them. And the explanation for erratic behavior —; anger, impulsivity, unnecessary risks, and inappropriate and suboptimal choices —; has likely troubled parents for generations.

Measurement of Retinal Blood Flow Using Fluorescently Labeled Red Blood Cells

Thu, 11 Feb 2016 00:00:00 GMT

Material below summarizes the article ;Measurement of Retinal Blood Flow Using Fluorescently Labeled Red Blood Cells, ;published on April 29, 2015, in ;eNeuro ;and authored by Tess E. Kornfield and Eric A. Newman.

Our brain is a hungry organ. Although it accounts for only two percent of our body weight, the brain consumes 20 percent of the oxygen and 25 percent of the total nutrients that our body utilizes. The brain has an extensive blood supply to feed itself. Interruption of this supply, even for just a few minutes, can damage the brain permanently. The brain’;s vasculature has many mechanisms to ensure that the blood supply is always sufficient. If the body’;s blood pressure drops, the brain’;s blood vessels dilate to make up the difference. If neurons in a brain region are particularly active, the vessels in that region dilate to bring extra blood to feed those neurons.

Causal Role of Striatal Cholinergic Interneurons in Behavioral Flexibility

Thu, 03 Mar 2016 00:00:00 GMT

Material below summarizes the article ;Role of Striatal Cholinergic Interneurons in Set-Shifting in the Rat, ;published on June 24, 2015, in ;JNeurosci ;and authored ;by Sho Aoki, Andrew W. Liu, Aya Zucca, Stefano Zucca, and Jeffrey R. Wickens. ;

Surviving in this ever-changing world requires behaving flexibly according to situations and demands that are constantly fluctuating. This is a particular feature of the mammalian brain, but the mechanisms for behavioral flexibility are incompletely understood. To study these mechanisms requires refined tools for analysis of behavior, as well as selective ways to experimentally manipulate specific groups of neurons. The combination of sophisticated behavioral measures with cell-type-specific lesions targeting one particular class of neurons provides insight into the role of specific neurotransmitter systems.

Bringing Two-Photon Microscopy Into Monkeys

Tue, 12 Jan 2016 00:00:00 GMT

Material below is adapted from the SfN Short Course ;Two-Photon Calcium Imaging in the Macaque Monkey, ;by Kristina J. Nielsen, PhD. Short Courses are daylong scientific trainings on emerging neuroscience topics and research techniques held the day before SfN’;s annual meeting.

To learn more about the human brain, researchers often turn to looking at the brains of other primates, like the Rhesus macaque. Similar to the human brain in both organization and function, non-human primate brains can also be evaluated during tasks requiring complex thought, perception, and decision making. Understanding the neural circuitry underlying these processes will provide clues into the human brain, both its normal functioning and disruptions that lead to mental disorders. However, probing these circuits requires advanced techniques.

Understanding Sonic Hedgehog Signaling Pathway in Hippocampal Neurons

Thu, 16 Jun 2016 00:00:00 GMT

Material below summarizes the article ;Dendrosomatic Sonic Hedgehog Signaling in Hippocampal Neurons Regulates Axon Elongation, published on December 9, 2015, in ;JNeurosci ;and authored by Pamela J. Yao, Ronald S. Petralia, Carolyn Ott, Ya-Xian Wang, Jennifer Lippincott-Schwartz, and Mark P. Mattson.

The development and maintenance of neural circuits in the brain are controlled by diverse signaling pathways. Recent research has revealed the role of Sonic Hedgehog (Shh), a secreted protein signaling in regulating neural networks in some areas of the brain. In the case of the hippocampus, we have known the existence of the key signaling components of the Shh pathway. However, the function of the Shh signaling pathway in the hippocampus, particularly in the hippocampal neuron, has remained mostly unknown.

Why Is the Size of an Object Unchanged Regardless of Changes in Viewing Distance?

Thu, 18 Feb 2016 00:00:00 GMT

Material below summarizes the article ;Computation of Object Size in Visual Cortical Area V4 as a Neural Basis for Size Constancy, ;published on August 26, 2015, in ;JNeurosci ;and authored ;by Shingo Tanaka and Ichiro Fujita.

Perceiving the sizes of visual objects appears to be a simple perceptual experience in which no big scientific conundrum exists. Contrary to this intuitive impression, size perception involves complex neural processes and is not determined solely by the size of object images projected onto the retina.

A notable example is that we perceive the size of an object to be relatively stable despite changes in the size of its retinal image that accompany changes in viewing distance. For example, when a car is moving away from us, we perceive this car as getting gradually further away, not gradually shrinking in size, although the retinal image size of the car changes in a similar way between the two cases. This phenomenon, called size constancy, is accomplished by combining retinal image size and distance information in our brain.

Harnessing Pluripotent Stem Cells to Study Neuropsychiatric Diseases

Thu, 18 Aug 2016 00:00:00 GMT

Material below is adapted from the SfN Short Course ;Developing Stem Cell Models to Study Neuropsychiatric Diseases, by Lindy Barrett, PhD, and Kevin Eggan, PhD. Short Courses are day-long scientific trainings on emerging neuroscience topics and research techniques held the day before SfN’;s annual meeting. ;

Neuropsychiatric diseases are the leading cause of disability worldwide, affecting one in four people at some point in their lives. As a result of recent advances in DNA analysis technologies, scientists understand much more about the genetic basis of neuropsychiatric diseases such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and autism spectrum disorder. However, the development of effective treatments for those disorders has been hindered by the lack of knowledge about how genetic variation affects the function of human brain cell types involved in behavior and cognition.

Reprogramming Adult Cells to Study Neurological Diseases

Tue, 13 Dec 2016 00:00:00 GMT

Material below is adapted from the SfN Short Course ;Probing Disorders of the Nervous System Using Reprogramming Approaches, ;by Evangelos Kiskinis, PhD. Short Courses are day-long scientific trainings on emerging neuroscience topics and research techniques held the day before SfN’;s annual meeting.

While animal models provide important insights into neurological disease, they rarely offer a complete picture: Findings sometimes fail to translate to humans and animal models often don’;t mirror how neurological diseases develop and progress in humans. Neuroscience researchers need experimental systems that accurately mimic the genetic background, environment, and variability seen in humans.

Seeing Neuronal Activity Simultaneously in Three Dimensions

Thu, 28 Apr 2016 00:00:00 GMT

Material below is adapted from the SfN Short Course ;Simultaneous Holographic Imaging of Neuronal Circuits in Three Dimensions, by Sean Quirin, PhD, et al. Short Courses are daylong scientific trainings on emerging neuroscience topics and research techniques held the day before SfN’;s annual meeting.

Traditional microscopy techniques are limiting in that most only reflect two dimensions of a three-dimensional biological system. Optical imaging, such as two-photon microscopy to measure voltage-sensitive or calcium-sensitive dyes, is minimally invasive and has the resolution to study the individual cells that make up large neuronal networks. However, images from these experiments are captured in two dimensions; to collect data spanning a chunk of tissue, sequential images are scanned one at a time, losing any activity that occurs at the same time in different planes. ;

Shaping Sensory Perception in Time: A Mechanism for Temporal Contrast Enhancement of Olfactory Information

Wed, 30 Nov 2016 00:00:00 GMT

Dual Highways for Emotions Reach the Orbitofrontal Cortex

Thu, 14 Apr 2016 00:00:00 GMT

Material below summarizes the article ;Pathways for Emotions: Specializations in the Amygdalar, Mediodorsal Thalamic, and Posterior Orbitofrontal Network, ;published ;on August 26, 2015 in ;JNeurosci ;and authored ;by Clare Timbie and Helen Barbas.

In everyday life, emotional scenes captivate us, and we remember them more readily than ordinary scenes and events. Pathways that convey sensory signals reach neurons in the thalamus, which then convey the signals to the cerebral cortex, the brain’;s outer rim. But the external world and its emotional import are intertwined in our experience. How does information about our inner world reach the cortex as we become aware of our emotions —; happiness, sadness, fear?

Dopamine Enhances Sensory Perception in Zebrafish

Thu, 07 Jul 2016 00:00:00 GMT

Material below summarizes the article ;Dopamine Modulates the Activity of Sensory Hair Cells, published on December 16, 2015, in ;JNeurosci ;and authored ;by Cecilia Toro, Josef G. Trapani, Itallia Pacentine, Reo Maeda, Lavinia Sheets, Weike Mo, and Teresa Nicolson.

Perception of sensory stimuli, like sounds waves, is typically thought of as a unidirectional process: Sound waves hits the eardrum, and are then sensed by the inner ear, which conveys those auditory signals to the brain. At various centers of the brain, these signals are processed and relevant information is sorted. This allows for focused perception, such as hearing a particular voice among many voices.

A Path to Sleep Is Through the Eye

Thu, 21 Jan 2016 00:00:00 GMT

Material below summarizes the article ;A Path to Sleep Is through the Eye, ;published on March 5, 2015, in ;eNeuro ;and authored by Lawrence P. Morin.

A common question about normal behavior is, “Why do animals sleep?” The actual answer is complex, consisting of explanations related to ecology and evolution, the physiology of homeostasis, and the molecular biology of cells.

Global Mental Health and Neuroscience: Challenges and Opportunities

Wed, 14 Dec 2016 00:00:00 GMT

Around the world, mental health is slowly but steadily being discussed more publicly. The field is benefiting from advances in neuroscience, but not adequately —; the potential is much greater. This lecture presents a background of the current state of mental health in the world and explains how a closer collaboration between mental health and neuroscience could enhance knowledge and improve health. Examples from the areas of autism, substance dependence, psychoses, and dementia help illustrate this potential.

Totally Cerebral: What's That Smell?

Thu, 28 Jan 2016 00:00:00 GMT

Scents and tastes are powerfully evocative — one whiff of perfume or a cooking aroma can transport you back to a particular moment, place, or a person. Because the things we smell reach two brain structures — the hippocampus and amygdala — in just one synapse, scents can almost immediately stimulate the key brain areas for memory, emotion, and location.

In this episode of Totally Cerebral, Wendy Suzuki speaks with neuroscientist Howard Eichenbaum, an expert on olfactory memory. With chemist Kent Kirshenbaum, they sit down to a meal with Chef Anita Lo to hear how she plays with our senses and our memories in her delicious creations.

Specific Neurons Responsible for Alcohol Use Disorder

Thu, 04 Feb 2016 00:00:00 GMT

Material below summarizes the article ;Alcohol Elicits Functional and Structural Plasticity Selectively in Dopamine D1 Receptor-Expressing Neurons of the Dorsomedial Striatum, ;published on August 19, 2015, in ;JNeurosci ;and authored ;by Jun Wang, Yifeng Cheng, Xuehua Wang, Emilty Roltsch Hellard, Tengfei Ma, Hannah Gil, Sami Ben Hamida, and Dorit Ron.

Alcohol use disorder (or alcoholism) is a widespread illness and considered to result from abnormally enhanced learning and memory processes. However, the detailed mechanisms underlying this illness are not understood well, and the therapeutics are also limited.

Be Fast to Retain Your Identity: The Role of Olfactory Marker Protein in Olfactory Receptor Neurons

Wed, 14 Dec 2016 00:00:00 GMT

Material below summarizes the article ;The Odorant Receptor-Dependent Role of Olfactory Marker Protein in Olfactory Receptor Neurons, ;published on March 9, 2016, in ;JNeurosci ;and authored by Michele Dibattista and Johannes Reisert.

Animals, in their natural environment, sample their surroundings in search for chemical cues that are crucial for their surviving. Finding food and friends or avoiding foes are only a few of the plethora of behaviors that odorous signals can trigger. These volatile odor cues are detected by olfactory receptor neurons (ORNs) via a signal transduction mechanism that converts chemical information into an electrical signal that is sent to the brain in form of action potentials.

"Brain Cannabis" Boosts a Specific Aspect of Learning

Thu, 13 Oct 2016 00:00:00 GMT

Material below summarizes the article ;A Primary Cortical Input to Hippocampus Expresses a Pathway-Specific and Endocannabinoid-Dependent Form of Long-Term Potentiation, published on July 25, 2016, in ;eNeuro ;and authored by Weisheng Wang, Brian H. Trieu, Linda C. Palmer, Yousheng Jia, Danielle T. Pham, Kwang-Mook Jung, Carley A. Karsten, Collin B. Merrill, Ken Mackie, Christine M. Gall, Daniele Piomelli, and Gary Lynch.

The hippocampus is a structure about the length of your little finger, nestled deep inside the cerebral cortex, that plays a vital role in the formation of new memories. This includes episodic memory, which is a record of a series of events placed into a narrative containing information about what you saw, the locations of the items, and the sequence in which they occurred.

People routinely perform this complex type of encoding and then use the stored episodes to recall what happened at a particular place or time. When asked about a possible encounter while walking through a building, you’;ll likely replay an episode to find the answer, such as, “I came through the door, walked across the lobby, and then spotted an unusual chair next to the elevator.

Given that episodic memory is fundamental to everyday behavior, it is not surprising that brain scientists around the world are trying to understand how the hippocampus builds it.

Animal Rights Extremism: Recognize the Signs

Tue, 19 Jan 2016 00:00:00 GMT

Animal rights extremists are becoming more sophisticated by focusing on heavily limiting research through crippling legal ploys. Here are many of their targets and tactics.

Chronic Pain: Clarifying Toxin Analgesic Mechanism

Thu, 10 Mar 2016 00:00:00 GMT

Material ;below summarizes the article ;Limited Efficacy of α-Conopeptides, Vc1.1 and RgIA, to Inhibit Sensory Neuron Ca_v ;Current, ;published on January 16, 2015, in ;eNeuro ;and authored by Andrew B. Wright, ;Yohei Norimatsu, J. Michael McIntosh, and Keith S. Elmslie.

Chronic pain reduces the quality of life for millions of people, and the available treatments are limited and ineffective for many patients. Thus, novel analgesics are a critical area of research. ;

Strong preclinical evidence supports the analgesic effects of the α-conopeptides, Vc1.1 and RgIA, which block α9α10 nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs). However, the analgesic mechanism is controversial. Some evidence supports the block of α9α10 nAChRs as an analgesic mechanism, while other evidence supports the inhibition of N-type Ca_V ;(Ca_V2.2) channels via activation of GABA_B ;receptors.

Totally Cerebral: Exercise and Your Brain

Tue, 16 Feb 2016 00:00:00 GMT

Wendy Suzuki introduces us to Marian Diamond, whose lively classes ushered Suzuki into a career in neuroscience. Suzuki shares how she came to study how exercise profoundly affects the brain, not just the body.

Combating Animal Rights Extremism: Be Proactive, Be Prepared

Tue, 14 Jun 2016 00:00:00 GMT

Animal rights activist groups use a variety of crippling ploys to stunt research. Here’s a review of their tactics and what you can do to protect yourself and your research.

Novel Olfactory Task to Study Airborne Odor-Guided Navigation in Rats Reveals a Robust Tracking Strategy Without Casting

Thu, 30 Jun 2016 00:00:00 GMT

Material below summarizes the article ;Robust and Rapid Air-Borne Odor Tracking Without Casting, published on November 5, 2015, in ;eNeuro ;and authored by Urvashi Bhattacharyya, and Upinder Singh Bhalla.

Animals are sensitive to the range and intensity of chemical cues that determine their social behavior and survival in the wild. The sense of smell is extraordinary in its ability to detect and guide animals across this range and inform them of cues such as food, predator, or mate. In a complex environment, stimuli could also comprise visual, auditory, or tactile inputs. Thus, it is important to study how animals change their strategy of odor localization based on the environment they interact with.

Human Brain Malformations Workshop

Fri, 08 Jul 2016 00:00:00 GMT

In this Neurobiology of Disease Workshop conducted at Neuroscience 2015, leading experts review some of the genes, cellular pathways, processes, and structures commonly affected in brain malformations including PI3K/mTOR signaling, tubulin, reelin, and cilia.

Strategies to Increase the Positive Public Perception of Animals in Research

Wed, 24 Aug 2016 00:00:00 GMT

Scientists can help gain public support for animal research by communicating openly and proactively about adherence to strict rules and regulations, and how it has advanced our understanding of complex diseases.

The Income Achievement Gap: Insights From Cognitive Neuroscience

Tue, 27 Dec 2016 00:00:00 GMT

What are the consequences of income inequality on academic achievement and individual earnings for children around the world? In this Social Issues Roundtable, researchers share their findings on the impact of socioeconomic status on brain development, executive function, self-regulation, chronic toxic stress, and language.

Pain-Sensing Nerve Fibers Display Reduced Activity in Models of Aging and Truly Chronic Pain

Fri, 09 Sep 2016 00:00:00 GMT

Material below summarizes the article ;Nociceptor Sensitization Depends on Age and Pain Chronicity, published on January 8, 2016, in ;eNeuro ;and authored by Andy D. Weyer, Katherine J. Zappia, Sheldon R. Garrison, Crystal L. O’;Hara, Amanda K. Dodge, and Cheryl L. Stucky.

As we gain traction in curing diseases, one of the biggest battles still being fought is the problem of chronic pain.

Worldwide, millions of individuals suffer from chronic pain, which impacts quality of life and prevents many people from maintaining employment. Yet, for the majority of patients, treatment options are woefully insufficient. For instance, opioids, the treatment of choice for acute pain, are contraindicated for chronic usage due to many side effects and their abuse potential, and newer anticonvulsants prescribed for pain are only effective for about one-third of patients.

"Rewarding" New Insights into the Olfactory Tubercle’s Role in Motivated Behavior

Thu, 04 Aug 2016 00:00:00 GMT

Optimizing Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells to Model Schizophrenia

Thu, 15 Sep 2016 00:00:00 GMT

Material below is adapted from the SfN Short Course ;Modeling Predisposition to Schizophrenia, a Genetically Heterogeneous Neuropsychiatric Disorder, Using Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells, ;by Seok-Man Ho, BSc, Erin Flaherty, BSc, and Kristen J. Brennand, PhD. Short Courses are day-long scientific trainings on emerging neuroscience topics and research techniques held the day before SfN’;s annual meeting.

Schizophrenia is a chronic and severe mental disorder affecting approximately one percent of the world population. In recent years, scientists have employed animal models and genome-wide association studies to gain important insights into the biological underpinnings of schizophrenia. However, it remains unclear exactly how environmental and genetic factors interact to increase the risk for this debilitating disease.

The Tale of Two Roses: The Shaping of Sensory Coding Neuronal Ensembles by Reward and Norepinephrine

Thu, 19 May 2016 00:00:00 GMT

Material below summarizes the article ;Arc-Expressing Neuronal Ensembles Supporting Pattern Separation Require Adrenergic Activity in Anterior Piriform Cortex: An Exploration of Neural Constraints on Learning, ;on October 14, 2015, in ;JNeurosci ;and authored ;by Amin MD. Shakhawat, Ali Gheidi, Iain T. MacIntyre, Melissa L. Walsh, Carolyn W. Harley, and Qi Yuan.

“No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it’;s not the same river and he’;s not the same man,” said Heraclitus around 500 BC. We live in a highly fluctuating environment, and our mental state is constantly changing. How we perceive a sensory cue is dependent on the environmental background and is based on our previous experience. Each sniff of a rose is a unique experience. How is the smell of a rose encoded in the brain? How do we form memories of different flower smells and distinguish one from another?

Cerebral Organoids Grown From Stem Cells Offer a New Way to Study the Human Brain

Tue, 05 Jul 2016 00:00:00 GMT

Material below is adapted from the SfN Short Course ;Generating 3D Cerebral Organoids From Human Pluripotent Stem Cells to Model Cortical Development and Disease, ;by Paola Arlotta, PhD. Short Courses are daylong scientific trainings on emerging neuroscience topics and research techniques held the day before SfN’;s annual meeting.

The human brain is a complex organ, and the most sophisticated part of it may be the cerebral cortex. Composed of billions of cells, multiple structural layers, and several different types of tissue, the cortex houses a diverse array of brain cell types, including nerve cells and supporting cells, or glia. In humans, the cortex processes information related to higher-order functions, such as thinking, sensory perception, and language.

Deconstructing Balance to Dissect Vestibular Sensorimotor Circuits

Thu, 28 Jul 2016 00:00:00 GMT

Material below summarizes the article ;Loss of Projections, Functional Compensation, and Residual Deficits in the Mammalian Vestibulospinal System of ;Hoxb1-Deficient Mice, published on November 23, 2015, in ;eNeuro ;and authored by Maria Di Bonito, Jean-Luc Boulland, Wojciech Krezel, Eya Setti, Michèle Studer, and Joel C. Glover.

Sense of balance is an essential element in our relationship to the external world. Lose it and we risk becoming disoriented, which could prove fatal if it occurs at an inopportune moment. Incorporating a sensorimotor system that detects changes in position and generates compensatory movements was therefore an early evolutionary innovation —; one that nearly all multicellular animals possess and has developed into the vestibular system in humans and other vertebrates.

Given its ancient origins, one might expect that constructing the vestibular system during embryonic and fetal development relies on highly conserved genetic programs. Several indications of this have been reported previously, including work from our laboratories. But there is still little knowledge about how this is achieved.

Location, Location, Location: Testosterone Acts in Different Brain Regions to Regulate Distinct Features of the Same Behavior

Thu, 15 Sep 2016 00:00:00 GMT

Material below summarizes the article ;Pleiotropic Control by Testosterone of a Learned Vocal Behavior and Its Underlying Neuroplasticity, published on January 12, 2016, in ;eNeuro ;and authored by Beau A. Alward, Farrah N. Madison, Shannon E. Parker, Jacques Balthazart, and Gregory F. Ball.

Adaptive variation in behavior often involves dynamic changes in different brain regions (neuroplasticity) that form a regulatory circuit. Steroid hormones can profoundly modulate behavior in multiple ways: generally, such as alteration of arousal, or specifically, such as enhancing a particular sensory experience.

The results from our study highlight these actions of testosterone on a complex behavior and its underlying neuroplasticity.

A Guide to the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee

Mon, 27 Jun 2016 00:00:00 GMT

Many people think that the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) exists only to enforce rules and regulations. In reality, the IACUC, which is found at every university involved in federally funded animal research, can be a great resource to investigators by helping them determine the best methods for ensuring animal health and welfare while accomplishing the goals of a study.

Here is what you should know about the IACUC so you consider it an asset in your research.

A New Way for the Hypothalamus to Control Sleep

Thu, 03 Jun 2021 09:16:00 GMT

Material below summarizes the article ;QRFP and Its Receptors Regulate Locomotor Activity and Sleep in Zebrafish, published on February 10, 2016, in ;JNeurosci ;and authored ;by Audrey Chen, Cindy N. Chiu, Eric A. Mosser, Sohini Khan, Rory Spence, and David A. Prober.

Sleep is an evolutionarily conserved behavioral state whose regulation is poorly understood. The hypothalamus is thought to play a key role in regulating sleep in vertebrate animals, but few sleep-promoting signaling pathways have been identified.

A Receptor-Like Function of Sema4B in Injury Induced Astrogliosis

Thu, 05 May 2016 00:00:00 GMT

Material below summarizes the article ;Astrogliosis Induced by Brain Injury is Regulated by Sema4B Phosphorylation, ;published on May 6, 2015, in ;eNeuro ;and authored ;by Liat Ben-Gigi, Sahar Sweetat, Elazar Besser, Yakov Fellig, Thorsten Wiederhold, Roberto D. Polakiewicz, and Oded Behar.

Astrocyte activation (reactive gliosis) accompanies most central nervous system (CNS) pathologies, including brain injury conditions. During astrocyte activation, the expression of many genes is modified, thus changing the cells’; protein expression profile and behavior.

A Specific Population of Immature Interneurons Shapes the Dynamics of Network Activity Throughout the Developing Hippocampus

Wed, 07 Dec 2016 00:00:00 GMT

Material below summarizes the article ;Interneurons Differentially Contribute to Spontaneous Network Activity in the Developing Hippocampus Dependent on Their Embryonic Lineage, ;published on March 2, 2016, in ;JNeurosci ;and authored by Jason C. Wester and Chris J. McBain.

A key feature of neural circuits is their ability to internally generate spontaneous bursts of network activity that can propagate as a wave over long distances. In mature brains, such activity occurs predominantly during slow-wave sleep, and there is mounting evidence that it serves to reactivate and strengthen synaptic connections formed earlier during learning and exploration.

Different Repulsive Receptors Take the Same Action

Thu, 29 Dec 2016 00:00:00 GMT

Material below summarizes the article ;Equivalent Activity of Repulsive Axon Guidance Receptors, published on January 27, 2016, in ;JNeurosci ;and authored by Hong Long, Shingo Yoshikawa, and John B. Thomas.

In the developing nervous system, differentiating neurons send out axons to find and synapse with their targets: either other neurons or muscle cells, often located far away. Highly motile structures called growths cones, located at the leading edge of elongating axons, respond to guidance cues in their environment by changing the direction of axon growth.

Receptors on the growth cone play critical roles in this process by recognizing the cues via their extracellular domains and transducing signals via their intracellular domains. Guidance cues can be either attractive or repulsive, and a prevailing concept to have emerged in the axon guidance field is the importance of repulsion in guiding axons to their appropriate targets.

In Vivo Functional Bioluminescence Brain Imaging Highlights Learning and Memory Process

Thu, 31 Mar 2016 00:00:00 GMT

Material below summarizes the article ;PKA and cAMP/CNG Channels Independently Regulate the Cholinergic Ca²⁺-Response of ;Drosophila ;Mushroom Body Neurons, published on April 8, 2015, in ;eNeuro ;and authored by Pierre Pavot, Elena Carbognin, and Jean-René Martin.

As neuroscientists, we try to understand how billions of neurons work together to perform either simple daily tasks, such as coordinated walking, or more complex ones, such as learning and memory. How are the multiple integrated functions —; like playing the piano, which uses learning and memory —; encoded in the brain? And how does that compare to the multiple integrated functions, such as coordinated locomotor activity, or more sophisticated motor-based functions, such as playing piano —; which refers in part to learning and memory —; or yet to encoding other tasks, such as the memory of odor or even the learning of more intellectual and abstract things, such as poetry? In other words, where in the brain and at which levels (genetic, molecular, cellular, and/or network) do these given integrated functions take place?

New Tools to Rebuild Neuronal Networks

Thu, 25 Aug 2016 00:00:00 GMT

Material below summarizes the article ;Rapid Mechanically Controlled Rewiring of Neuronal Circuits, published on January 20, 2016, in ;JNeurosci ;and authored by Margaret H. Magdesian, G. Monserratt Lopez-Ayon, Megumi Mori, Dominic Boudreau, Alexis Goulet-Hanssens, Ricardo Sanz, Yoichi Miyahara, Christopher J. Barrett, Alyson E. Fournier, Yves De Koninck, and Peter Grütter.

The adult nervous system is composed of billions of neurons that extend axons over substantial distances to reach an appropriate target and build complex networks during development.

Neuronal network function depends on the precise specificity of neuronal connections. Injuries to the nervous system caused by trauma or neurodegenerative diseases usually result in disability and death because it is still not possible to regenerate neurons over long distances and accurately reconnect them with the appropriate target.

Neurons Born in Injured Adult Brains: Aberrant but Functional

Thu, 23 Jun 2016 00:00:00 GMT

Material below summarizes the article ;Functional Integration of Adult-Born Hippocampal Neurons after Traumatic Brain Injury, ;published on September 14, 2015, in ;eNeuro ;and authored by Laura E. Villasana, Kristine N. Kim, Gary L. Westbrook, and Eric Schnell.

Although the majority of neurons in mammalian brains are generated during embryologic development, the production of new neurons continues throughout life in at least two brain regions in a process known as adult neurogenesis. These adult-born neurons integrate into neuronal circuits and are believed to play an important role in brain function. In the hippocampus, new granule cells are born in adult animals and contribute to learning and memory. Interestingly, the production of these adult-born granule cells increases markedly after certain forms of neuronal injury, including seizures, strokes, and traumatic brain injury (TBI). It has been hypothesized that these new neurons might play a role in recovery.

GPR55: A New Mediator of Axon Guidance

Thu, 26 May 2016 00:00:00 GMT

Material below summarizes the article ;Role of GPR55 During Axon Growth and Target Innervation, ;published on October 22, 2015, in ;eNeuro ;and authored by Hosni Cherif, Anteneh ;Argaw, Bruno Cécyre, Alex Bouchard, Jonathan Gagnon, Pasha Javadi, Sébastien Desgent, Ken Mackie, and Jean-François Bouchard.

Axons navigate in a complex environment with a multitude of external chemotactic cues that must be detected and effectively translated by a suitable growth response. The growth cone (GC) is the sensory structure at the axon tip that guides the axons in this landscape. Axon guidance cues help to establish functional neural circuits through guidance of axons to their specific targets during the development. At the GC surface, axon guidance molecules bind to their cognate receptors, triggering intracellular signaling cascades near the growth cone's cell membrane and downstream signal transduction pathways that converge on the cytoskeleton and cause axon steering and growth.

Photoperiod and Brain Blood Flow: Changing Day Length to Alter Cerebral Perfusion

Thu, 05 Jan 2017 00:00:00 GMT

Material below summarizes the article ;Photoperiodic Regulation of Cerebral Blood Flow in White-footed Mice (Peromyscus leucopus), ;published on July 13, 2016, ineNeuro ;and authored by Jeremy C. Borniger, Seth Teplitsky, Surya Gnyawali, Randy J Nelson, and Cameron Rink.

Animals that live in nontropical climates need to adjust their behavior and physiology throughout the year to survive in the face of a cyclically changing environment. To save energy, organisms reroute resources to necessary functions in anticipation of unfavorable conditions. Many small animals, for example, turn off reproduction in favor of thermogenesis during the harsh winter months to ensure survival into the next breeding season. Because the brain is an energetically expensive organ, any reduction in size or blood flow to this organ would confer significant energy savings, allowing individuals to invest resources into vital functions such as immunity or keeping warm.

Understanding Stem Cells in the Human Brain

Wed, 01 Nov 2017 00:00:00 GMT

Material below is adapted from the SfN Short Course ;Distinct Molecular Programs Define Human Radial Glia Subtypes During Human Cortical Development, by Tomasz J. Nowakowski, PhD, and Alex A. Pollen, PhD. Short Courses are day-long scientific trainings on emerging neuroscience topics and research techniques held ;the day before SfN’;s annual meeting.

Multicellular organisms were able to evolve in part because of the capability of cells to take specialized shapes and perform varied functions. Understanding how cells diversify their characteristics has become simpler with the rise of single-cell RNA sequencing, which allows scientists to learn more about the genes and pathways active in an individual cell. Researchers can apply this technique to learn more about development of the human nervous system.

Investigating How Stem Cells Become Motor Neurons

Tue, 25 Apr 2017 00:00:00 GMT

Material below is adapted from the SfN Short Course ;Stem Cells As a Tool for Studying the Developmental Regulation of Gene Expression, ;by Hynek Wichterle, PhD, et al. Short Courses are daylong scientific trainings on emerging neuroscience topics and research techniques held the day before SfN’;s annual meeting. ;

Muscle movements, such as breathing, walking, speaking, and fine motor skills, are controlled by the activity of motor neurons. These cells originate in the spinal cord and carry signals from the brain to the muscles. ;

Population EEG Dynamics Uncovered Using Over 6,000 Subjects

Thu, 02 Mar 2017 00:00:00 GMT

Material below summarizes the article ;Characterizing Population EEG Dynamics Throughout Adulthood, published on November 30, 2016, in ;eNeuro ;and authored by Ali Hashemi, Lou J. Pino, Graeme Moffat, Karen J. Mathewson, Chris Aimone, Patrick J. Bennett, Louis A. Schmidt, and Allison B. Sekuler.

Non-invasive measures of brain activity provide valuable insights to the functioning of the brain and the mental processes underlying perception and cognition. Until recently, the most accessible method to measure brain activity was via expensive, lab-based electroencephalography (EEG) systems operated by trained researchers or technicians.

Decades of EEG research have revealed much about how brain activity is modulated from sleep to awake states, during cognitive and perceptual tasks, and after various training paradigms, as well as how these dynamics change during typical and atypical development. However, use of EEG has, until now, largely been restricted to controlled environments with time- and labor-intensive studies using research-grade equipment with relatively small sample sizes.

Promises and Pitfalls of Single Cell Analysis

Tue, 13 Jun 2017 00:00:00 GMT

Material below is adapted from the ;SfN ;Short Course ;Scientific Opportunities and Challenges in Single-Cell Analysis, ;by Steven A. McCarroll, PhD. Short Courses are day-long scientific trainings on emerging neuroscience topics and research techniques held the day before SfN’;s annual meeting.

Until recently, analyzing a single cell to determine what genes it expresses and how it functions was beyond reach. But new techniques have emerged within the last 10 years that give researchers this capability, as well as the ability to analyze aspects of many individual cells at once. When combined with analyses of cell shape, connectivity, and activity, probing the genomes and expression profiles of single cells has the potential to yield powerful insights, yet also holds challenges.

Transcription Dysregulation of the PGC-1α in Huntington’s Disease Pathogenesis

Thu, 30 Nov 2017 00:00:00 GMT

Material below is adapted from the SfN Short Course, Transcription Dysregulation of the PGC-1α Pathway in Huntington’s Disease Pathogenesis: From Metabolic Derangement to Neurodegeneration, by Albert R. La Spada, MD, PhD.

Understanding Gene Expression and Physiology Together

Tue, 19 Sep 2017 00:00:00 GMT

Material below is adapted from the ;SfN ;Short Course ;Correlating Cellular Morphology, Physiology, and Gene Expression Using Patch-seq, ;by Cathryn R. Cadwell, PhD, and Andreas S. Tolias, PhD. Short Courses are day-long scientific trainings on emerging neuroscience topics and research techniques held the day before SfN’;s annual meeting.

In the quest to understand the brain, gathering information about the ways neurons communicate is essential. Coupling cell type analysis with electrophysiological measurements obtained through patch-clamping, a host of techniques that measure electrical activity in neurons, has the potential to reveal new insights about how specific neuronal cell types communicate, and thus how the brain works.

Transcriptional Regulation of an Endoplasmic Reticulum Calcium Sensor

Thu, 14 Sep 2017 00:00:00 GMT

Material below summarizes the article ;NEUROD2 Regulates Stim1 Expression and Store-Operated Calcium Entry in Cortical Neurons, published on February 27, 2017, in ;eNeuro ;and authored by Gokhan Guner, Gizem Guzelsoy, Fatma Sadife Isleyen, Gulcan Semra Sahin, Cansu Akkaya, Efil Bayam, Eser Ilgin Kotan, Alkan Kabakcioglu, and Gulayse Ince-Dunn.

The cerebral cortex is the seat of higher cognitive functions such as learning, memory, planning, language acquisition, attention, and consciousness. In order to carry out these complex tasks, the cortex is composed of myriad types of neurons amounting to approximately 20-25 billion in humans.

A large proportion of these neurons —; excitatory neurons —; use the excitatory neurotransmitter glutamate and assemble into circuits that function in local communications and long-distance communications with other parts of the brain. A formidable task for the developing cerebral cortex is the production, differentiation, and assembly of excitatory cortical neurons into properly functioning networks.

Studying Spinal Cord Axons with Better Transparency

Tue, 26 Dec 2017 00:00:00 GMT

Material below summarizes the article ;3D Imaging of Axons in Transparent Spinal Cords from Rodents and Nonhuman Primates, ;published on March 26, 2015, in ;eNeuro ;and authored by Cynthia Soderblom, Do-Hun Lee, Abdul Dawood, Melissa Carballosa, Andrea Jimena Santamaria, Francisco D. Benavides, Stanislava Jergova, Robert M. Grumbles, Christine K. Thomas, Kevin K. Park, James David Guest, Vance P. Lemmon, Jae K. Lee, and Pantelis Tsoulfas.

The beginning of this century has seen some major advances in light microscopy, particularly related to neuroscience. These developments in microscopy, coupled with techniques that make tissues transparent, are enabling microscopes to visualize the cellular architecture of whole tissues in 3D with unprecedented detail.

From Pediatric Encephalopathy to Alzheimer’s: Linking Mitochondria to Neurological Diseases

Tue, 07 Feb 2017 00:00:00 GMT

Mitochondria are essential organelles that perform hundreds of biochemical reactions essential for processes beyond the generation of ATP. The last decade has seen an explosion in our understanding of the cell biology of mitochondria, providing a renewed understanding of their contribution to neurological diseases.

This Neurobiology of Disease Workshop (NDW) focuses on recent discoveries in the:

Etiology of mitochondrial diseases.
Importance of mitochondrial plasticity within brain function.
Mechanisms of mitochondrial motility in neurons.
Critical importance of mitochondrial contacts with other organelles for the flux of metabolites.
Mitochondrial quality control pathways that ensure cellular survival.

Testosterone Influences Regulation of Emotional Behavior in the Brain of Psychopathic Offenders

Thu, 23 Mar 2017 00:00:00 GMT

Material below summarizes the article ;Testosterone Modulates Altered Prefrontal Control of Emotional Actions in Psychopathic Offenders, ;published on January 15, 2016, in ;eNeuro ;and authored by Inge Volman, Anna Katinka Louise von Borries, Berend Hendrik Bulten, Robbert Jan Verkes, Ivan Toni, and Karin Roelofs.

Brain research has demonstrated that psychopathic offenders exhibit reduced control over their emotional actions. Our group of researchers from University College London and Donders Institute at Radboud University discovered that the quantity of testosterone a person produces influences the parts of the brain responsible for regulating emotions. The findings provide starting points for the treatment of psychopathic offenders.

We investigated a group of 15 psychopathic criminals in a joint research project with the Pompe Foundation for forensic psychiatry in the Netherlands. We were particularly interested in how the supply of testosterone influenced the regulation of emotional behavior.

Event-Related Potentials Reveal the Early Time Signatures of Visual Scene Perception

Thu, 12 Jan 2017 00:00:00 GMT

Material below summarizes the article ;The Temporal Dynamics of Scene Processing: A Multifaceted EEG Investigation, ;published on September 12, 2016, in ;eNeuro ;and authored by Assaf Harel, Iris I. A. Groen, Dwight J. Kravitz, Leon Y. Deouell, and Chris I. Baker.

Real-world scenes are highly complex, cluttered, and heterogeneous visual stimuli. For example, when we look at a busy street scene, we are faced with multiple types of information: different perceptual cues (such as depth and texture), information about the objects in the scene (such as to what class they belong to and their spatial arrangement), and information about the spatial layout of the scene (the global arrangement of its large-scale elements).

In spite of this computational complexity, human observers recognize scenes rapidly and with great ease. Oftentimes, just brief a glance is sufficient for successful recognition. But, how do we achieve this? How does our brain distinguish scenes from other types of complex visual stimuli? Does our visual system contain specialized neural mechanisms for recognizing scenes?

Totally Cerebral: Think Pop Culture Gets Amnesia Right? Forgetaboutit!

Thu, 04 May 2017 00:00:00 GMT

Many depictions of amnesia in TV, movies, and cartoons are just plain wrong — some laughably so.

Host Wendy Suzuki talks with Neal Cohen, a professor and neuroscientist from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. For 20 years, Cohen has used bad examples of amnesia that abound in pop culture as well as the rare accurate depictions as a powerful tool in his wildly popular undergraduate course about amnesia in pop culture. Cohen entertains and educates his students with examples from TV shows and films as diverse as Futurama, Memento, and 50 First Dates, and we’ll hear some of those clips.

Evidence for Caution in the Use of Clozapine-n-Oxide for DREADD Receptor Activation

Thu, 27 Apr 2017 00:00:00 GMT

Material below summarizes the article ;Clozapine N-Oxide Administration Produces Behavioral Effects in Long–Evans Rats: Implications for Designing DREADD Experiments, ;published on October 13, 2016, in ;eNeuro ;and authored by Duncan AA MacLaren, Richard W. Browne, Jessica K. Shaw, Sandhya Krishnan Radhakrishnan, Prachi Khare, Rodrigo A España, and Stewart D. Clark.

Technologies that allow the modulation of specific neuron subtypes are powerful tools in elucidating their function and the circuitry underlying specific behaviors. There is also the promise that the understanding gained or even these technologies themselves will be used to treat human disease. ;

After a Meal, Foods Aren't the Same in the Orbitofrontal Cortex

Thu, 08 Jun 2017 00:00:00 GMT

Material below summarizes the article ;Identity-Specific Reward Representations in Orbitofrontal Cortex Are Modulated by Selective Devaluation, published on March 8, 2017, in ;JNeurosci ;and authored ;by James D. Howard and Thorsten Kahnt.

Our decisions are influenced by the value of the outcome we expect to obtain. For example, a person who prefers pizza over pasta will naturally choose pizza if both are on a menu.

Prior work suggests that these expected values are encoded in the activity of the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC). This region lies along the ventral surface of the frontal lobe of the human brain, just above the eyes.

A Novel Cell and Circuit-Specific Role for SIRT1 in Depression

Thu, 09 Mar 2017 00:00:00 GMT

Material below summarizes the article ;SIRT1 Mediates Depression-Like Behaviors in the Nucleus Accumbens, ;published on August 10, 2016, in ;JNeurosci ;and authored by Hee-Dae Kim, Jennifer Hesterman, Tanessa Call, Samantha Magazu, Elizabeth Keeley, Kristyna Armenta, Hope Kronman, Rachael L. Neve, Eric J. Nestler, and Deveroux Ferguson.

Major depressive disorder (MDD) is a significant cause of disability with few effective treatments. More than 350 million individuals worldwide suffer from depression. In the United States, approximately 30 million individuals suffer from depression, which accounts for approximately $60 billion dollars lost in annual productivity. Current treatment approaches for depression are largely ineffective and leave more than 50 percent of patients symptomatic.

DREADDING Pain: Excitatory and Inhibitory Neurons in the Periaqueductal Gray Modulate Pain

Thu, 06 Jul 2017 00:00:00 GMT

Material below summarizes the article ;Divergent Modulation of Nociception by Glutamatergic and GABAergic Neuronal Subpopulations in the Periaqueductal Gray, published on March 17, 2017, in ;eNeuro ;and authored by Vijay K. Samineni, Jose G. Grajales-Reyes, Bryan A. Copits, Daniel E. O’;Brien, Sarah L. Trigg, Adrian M. Gomez, Michael R. Bruchas, and Robert W. Gereau.

Pain is a ;conscious ;experience that encompasses sensory, emotional, and cognitive dimensions. Pain signals detected by nerve fibers in the skin, tissue, and peripheral organs are transmitted into the brain via the spinal cord. Once perception of pain occurs, several regions in the brain exert a powerful control of incoming pain signals in the spinal cord.

An important example of this is the lack of pain perception that can be experienced when people are in “life or death” situations. One of these brain regions, the periaqueductal gray (PAG), is an evolutionarily conserved structure in the midbrain. Electrical stimulation of the PAG causes profound pain relief, or analgesia. This robust analgesia is mediated, in part, by descending connections to other regions in the brainstem.

From Cradle to Grave: Control of Purkinje Cell Dendrite Morphology By a Single Transcription Factor RORα

Thu, 06 Apr 2017 00:00:00 GMT

Material below summarizes the article ;RORα Regulates Multiple Aspects of Dendrite Development in Cerebelar Purkinje Cells ;In Vivo, ;published on September 9, 2015, in ;JNeurosci ;and authored ;by Yukari H. Takeo, Wataru Kakegawa, Eriko Miura, and Michisuke Yuzaki.

In the nervous system, each neuron subtype develops unique dendritic architecture that widely differs in the number of branches and the 3D orientation. Since excitatory synaptic inputs are formed mostly on dendrites, proper formation and maintenance of the dendritic architecture is fundamental for neural circuit function. Indeed, abnormal dendritic morphology is reported in brains of several neuropsychiatric disorders as well as neurodegenerative diseases. However, the mechanism of how neurons develop and maintain subtype-specific dendritic arbors is poorly understood.

High-Fat Diet During Adolescence Leads to Alterations in the Functioning of the Dopamine System

Thu, 05 Oct 2017 00:00:00 GMT

Material below summarizes the article ;Impact of Early Consumption of High-Fat Diet on the Mesolimbic Dopaminergic System, published on May 29, 2017, in ;eNeuro ;and authored by Fabien Naneix, Frédéric Tantot, Christelle Glangetas, Jennifer ; Kaufling, Yoottana Janthakhin, Chloé Boitard, Véronique De Smedt-Peyrusse, Jean-Rémi Pape, Sylvie Vancassel, Pierre Trifilieff, François Georges, Etienne Coutureau, and Guillaume Ferreira.

The consumption of energy-dense foods dramatically increases in developed and developing countries. The chronic consumption of high-fat/high sugar palatable foods leads to the development of obesity, metabolic syndrome, and diabetes, but also cognitive alterations.

Adolescents are especially sensitive to palatable foods and increase their consumption of high-fat/high-sugar obesogenic diet. However, adolescence is also a critical period for cognitive and brain development.

The long-term consequences of the chronic consumption of palatable foods during adolescence are still poorly understood but might involve alterations of the reward system.

Human Visual Cortex Responds to Surface Features

Fri, 19 May 2017 00:00:00 GMT

Material below summarizes the article ;Smooth Versus Textured Surfaces: Feature-Based Category Selectivity in Human Visual Cortex, ;published on September 9, 2016, in ;eNeuro ;and authored by ;Cesar Echavarria, Shahin Nasr, and Roger Tootell.

Throughout the primate visual cortex, individual neurons and clusters of neurons respond quite strongly to specific features within a viewed image. For example, neurons within the primary visual cortex (area V1) respond strongly to lines presented at one orientation but not to other orientations. Such neurons are orientation selective. Similarly, many neurons within area MT/V5 respond strongly to stimuli moving in one direction compared to other directions. These neurons are direction selective.

BDNF Mediated Neuroprotection in Optic Neuropathy

Thu, 13 Jul 2017 00:00:00 GMT

Material below summarizes the article ;Overexpression of Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor Protects Large Retinal Ganglion Cells Following Optic Nerve Crush in Mice, published on January 5, 2017, in ;eNeuro ;and authored by Liang Feng, Zhen Puyang, Hui Chen, Peiji Liang, John B. Troy, and Xiaorong Liu.

Disorders of the visual system often involve neuronal loss in the retina and in the higher visual centers of the brain, which eventually leads to low vision and blindness. In many cases, vision loss cannot be restored because neuronal death is irreversible.

New Insights Into the Aging Brain Revealed by Longitudinal fMRI

Thu, 29 Jun 2017 00:00:00 GMT

Material below summarizes the article ;Longitudinal Changes in Component Processes of Working Memory, published on March 6, 2017, in ;eNeuro ;and authored by Anna Rieckmann, Sara Pudas, and Lars Nyberg.

Working memory is a central component of human goal-oriented behavior, reasoning, and decision-making. It describes our ability to maintain and manipulate information over brief periods of time after the information is no longer present in the environment.

In the past, comparisons between healthy young and elderly adults have suggested that working memory declines as part of normal aging and is accompanied by changes in frontal and parietal brain regions. Interventions that target working memory functions in the elderly may therefore be a promising target to slow down cognitive decline and improve quality of life in the elderly.

Adenosine and Regimes of Plasticity

Thu, 04 May 2017 00:00:00 GMT

Material below summarizes the article ;Adenosine Shifts Plasticity Regimes between Associative and Homeostatic by Modulating Heterosynaptic Changes, ;published on February 8, 2017, in ;JNeurosci ;and authored by Nicholas M. Bannon, Marina Chistiakova, Jen-Yung Chen, Maxim Bazhenov, and Maxim Volgushev.

Plasticity is a universal property of synapses, vital for fundamental operations of the nervous system. The Hebbian rule for associative plasticity postulates that inputs that consistently take part in firing of a postsynaptic neuron —; that is, inputs that produce postsynaptic potentials that closely precede spikes and thus contribute to their generation —; should be potentiated. By extension, inputs whose activity does not help drive firing should be depressed.

Alzheimer's Disease Genetics: From the Bench to the Clinic

Thu, 18 May 2017 00:00:00 GMT

Material below is adapted from the SfN Short Course ;Alzheimer’;s Disease Genetics: From the Bench to the Clinic, by Celeste M. Karch, PhD, Carlos Cruchaga, PhD, and Alison Goate, DPhil. Short Courses are daylong scientific trainings on emerging neuroscience topics and research techniques held the day before SfN’;s annual meeting.

The symptoms characterizing Alzheimer’;s disease —; memory loss and general cognitive decline —; appear to derive from physical changes within the brain including amyloid plaque accumulation in the extracellular spaces, tangled fibrils of tau proteins within neural cells, and gross atrophy.

Miniature 3D Structures That Simulate the Human Cortex Could Help Study of Brain Disorders

Tue, 21 Mar 2017 00:00:00 GMT

Material below is adapted from the SfN Short Course ;Generating a Functional Human Cortex In Vitro From Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells, ;by Sergiu Paşca, MD. Short Courses are daylong scientific trainings on emerging neuroscience topics and research techniques held the day before SfN’;s annual meeting.

A major hurdle in understanding disorders like autism and schizophrenia is our inability to directly access the human brain. Functional magnetic resonance imaging techniques allow scientists to broadly visualize brain activity, but cannot show the complexities of networks between cells. Scientists can study brain structure with post-mortem tissue, but not their function.

Mesocortical Dopamine Phenotypes in Mice Lacking the Sonic Hedgehog Receptor Cdon

Thu, 01 Jun 2017 00:00:00 GMT

Material below summarizes the article ;Mesocortical Dopamine Phenotypes in Mice Lacking the Sonic Hedgehog Receptor Cdon, ;published on June 29, 2016, in ;eNeuroand authored by Michael Verwey, Alanna Grant, Nicholas Meti, Lauren Adye-White, Angelica Torres-Berrío, Veronique Rioux, Martin Lévesque, Frederic Charron, and Cecilia Flores.

Sonic Hedgehog (Shh) signaling contributes to the specification of midbrain dopamine neurons, which go on to form the ventral tegmental area (VTA) and substantia nigra pars compacta (SNc). Dopamine release from these dopamine projections is involved in diverse behavioral and cognitive processes, which have implications for motor function, addiction, and other psychopathologies. Identifying how the development of these different projections is encoded will help describe the trajectories that lead to healthy or unhealthy phenotypes that depend on this neural circuitry.

Opportunities for Big Data and Neuroscience

Tue, 20 Jun 2017 00:00:00 GMT

Pascal Wallisch: Data science is a merger between computer science, statistics, and machine learning and fields like that. What made it a thing is that we're now able to get much, much, much, more data.

We have now much more intense ways of measuring the data, and now data are pouring in. To be completely frank with you, our ability to analyze data is lagging behind, particularly among the people who are not statisticians.

And so education is critical. Training the next generation to be that data savvy and not to be afraid of numbers.

Concussion: From the Players’ Experience to the Future of Research

Tue, 31 Jan 2017 00:00:00 GMT

Mild traumatic brain injury, particularly when associated with contact sports and with military service, has gained public awareness as a health concern. This Social Issues Roundtable explores the complex issues of concussion and its multiple impacts to the brain —; from diagnosis to long-term consequences.

Revealing Cells’ Family Trees

Tue, 05 Sep 2017 00:00:00 GMT

Material below is adapted from the ;SfN ;Short Course ;Genetic Techniques for Cell Lineage Tracing in the Nervous System, ;by Kelly Girskis, BA, Mollie Woodworth, PhD, and Christopher Walsh, MD, PhD. Short Courses are day-long scientific trainings on emerging neuroscience topics and research techniques held the day before SfN’;s annual meeting.

Discovering what cells give rise to others —; in other words, tracing cell lineage —; has been a goal of biologists for years.

Early efforts involved injection of dye into a small area of a developing embryo. Modern approaches can include labeling with retroviral libraries or fluorescent proteins, and recent advances allow for much finer resolution, and thus greater understanding of cellular relationships. Many strategies are prospective, meaning scientists label one cell and then trace its descendants by following the label.

Specifics of Single Cell RNA Sequencing

Wed, 19 Jul 2017 00:00:00 GMT

Material below is adapted from the ;SfN ;Short Course ;Novel Technologies for Single-Cell Resolution Whole-Transcriptome Analysis in CNS Tissue, ;by Evan Macosko, MD, PhD. Short Courses are day-long scientific trainings on emerging neuroscience topics and research techniques held the day before SfN’;s annual meeting.

Scientists do not always agree about how many different types of cells are found in the mammalian brain, nor do they understand all the variation in gene expression that exists even within well-studied categories of cells. But innovations that allow for an efficient look at the whole transcriptomes of tens of thousands of single cells at a time bring the answers to these questions closer than they have ever been before.

S6 Kinase Puts a Surprising Brake on Axon Regeneration

Thu, 02 Nov 2017 00:00:00 GMT

Material below summarizes the article ;The mTOR Substrate S6 Kinase 1 (S6K1) Is a Negative Regulator of Axon Regeneration and a Potential Drug Target for Central Nervous System Injury, published on June 16, 2017, in ;JNeurosci ;and authored by Hassan Al-Ali, Ying Ding, Tatiana Slepak, Wei Wu, Yan Sun, Yania Martinez, Xiao-Ming Xu, Vance P. Lemmon, and John L. Bixby. ;

Neurons of the adult central nervous system (CNS) are often incapable of regenerating their long processes (axons).

These axons connect distant areas within the brain and spinal cord, allowing communication within the CNS and from the CNS to the rest of the body. Without regeneration, injuries that sever these axons can permanently damage sensation, movement, and other critical functions.

In this study, we used a novel computational approach to identify a set of signaling proteins called kinases that work together within neurons to “apply the brakes” on axon growth. Surprisingly, one of the kinases we identified as an inhibitory brake, S6 kinase (S6K), was previously thought to serve the exact opposite function as an accelerator of axon growth. ;

Genetic Analysis of Schizophrenia and Bipolar Disorder Reveals Polygenicity but Also Suggests New Directions for Molecular Interrogation

Tue, 30 May 2017 00:00:00 GMT

Material below is adapted from the SfN Short Course ;Genetic Analysis of Schizophrenia and Bipolar Disorder Reveals Polygenicity ;but Also Suggests New Directions for Molecular Interrogation, by Benjamin M. Neale, PhD, and Pamela Sklar, MD, PhD. Short Courses are daylong scientific trainings on emerging neuroscience topics and research techniques held the day before SfN’;s annual meeting.

Physicians first noted severe mental illness ran in families nearly a century ago. Since then, scientists have confirmed the heritability of both schizophrenia and bipolar disorder in numerous studies documenting the incidence of mental illness among twins and other family members. Estimates of the inherited component of risk for these mental disorders range from 60 to 90 percent. ;

The Appearance of REM Sleep Is Prevented by Noradrenaline From LC on PPT

Fri, 28 Jul 2017 00:00:00 GMT

Material below summarizes the article ;Noradrenaline from Locus Coeruleus Neurons Acts on Pedunculo-Pontine Neurons to Prevent REM Sleep and Induces Its Loss-Associated Effects in Rats, ;published on November 30, 2016, in ;eNeuro ;and authored by Mudasir Ahmad Khanday, Bindu I. Somarajan, Rachna Mehta, and Birendra Nath Mallick. ;

An important characteristic of living systems/organisms is that they undergo cyclical episodes of rest and activity, which in higher species has evolved into sleep and waking. Apparently, rest and activity are defined by physical movement; however, these stages are contiguous and gradually transform from one to another state, which differ in threshold of responsiveness to stimuli, levels of consciousness, cognition, and thinking ability. By and large, these states and their characteristics are subjective in nature. ;

Cotransporters in Spreading Depolarization-Induced Neuronal Swelling

Thu, 09 Mar 2017 00:00:00 GMT

Material below summarizes the article ;Chloride Cotransporters as a Molecular Mechanism Underlying Spreading Depolarization-Induced Dendritic Beading, published on September 2, 2015, in ;JNeurosci ;and authored by Annette B. Steffensen, Jeremy Sword, Deborah Croom, Sergei A. Kirov, and Nanna MacAulay. ;

Ischemic stroke and traumatic brain injury cause a loss of blood supply to the site of injury (the ischemic core) and reduced flow to the surrounding area (the ischemic penumbra). A rapid drop of ATP in the ischemic core leads to the failure of the ATP-dependent Na+/K+-pump and a resultant collapse of the ionic transmembrane gradients.

Female Sex Steroid Hormones Regulate Cocaine Addiction Through Cell Membrane Signaling Pathways

Thu, 26 Jan 2017 00:00:00 GMT

Material below summarizes the article ;Estradiol Facilitation of Cocaine Self-Administration in Female Rats Requires Activation of mGluR5, published on October 14, 2016, in ;eNeuro ;and authored by Luis A. Martinez, Kellie S. Gross, Brett T. Himmler, Nicole L. Emmitt, Brittni M. Peterson, Natalie E. Zlebnik, M. Foster Olive, Marilyn E. Carroll, Robert L. Meisel, and Paul G. Mermelstein.

Drug addiction does not discriminate between the sexes, with both men and women showing comparable rates of addiction across a range of legal and illicit drugs. However, there is evidence that the ramping up of addiction from initial use to a clinical diagnosis occurs more rapidly in women for several different drugs of abuse, including cocaine. The female sex steroid hormone, estradiol, was identified early on as one factor driving this sex difference. How estradiol might be acting specifically in the brains of females, but not males, to drive this sex difference remains an unanswered question.

How Do Cortical Neurons Listen at a Cocktail Party?

Thu, 06 Apr 2017 00:00:00 GMT

Material below summarizes the article ;Cortical Transformation of Spatial Processing for Solving the Cocktail Party Problem: A Computational Model, ;published on January 13, 2016, in ;eNeuro ;and authored by Junzi Dong, H. Steven Colburn, and Kamal Sen. ;

The problem of following a speaker’;s voice in the presence of others, the Cocktail Party Problem (CPP), remains a focus of intensive research in a diverse range of fields, including neuroscience, computer science, and speech recognition, more than 50 years after it was named. Although a difficult problem for machines to solve, humans with normal hearing solve it with relative ease, indicating a solution exists somewhere in the brain. Our ;eNeuro paper ;proposes a model cortical network for solving this problem based on recent physiological data.

Inferring Causality and Functional Significance of Human Coding Variants

Thu, 07 Sep 2017 00:00:00 GMT

Material below is adapted from the SfN Short Course ;Inferring Causality and Functional Significance of Human Coding DNA Variants, by Shamil R. Sunyaev, PhD. Short Courses are daylong scientific trainings on emerging neuroscience topics and research techniques held the day before SfN’;s annual meeting. ;

Genetic sequencing technologies allow researchers to characterize the diversity of the human genome as well as the causes of many diseases and disorders. Still, researchers struggle to understand the effects of many identified genetic alterations.

The Ventral Midline Thalamus Orchestrates Hippocampal-Prefrontal Synchrony During Spatial Working Memory

Thu, 23 Feb 2017 00:00:00 GMT

Material below summarizes the article ;Ventral Midline Thalamus Is Critical for Hippocampal–Prefrontal Synchrony and Spatial Working Memory, published on August 10, 2016, in ;JNeurosci ;and authored by Henry L. Hallock, Arick Wang, and Amy L. Griffin. ;

A growing body of evidence suggests that different types of learning and memory processes are distributed across specialized neural circuits consisting of two or more anatomically- and functionally-connected brain areas.

One such neural circuit consists of the dorsal hippocampus (dHC) and the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC). This circuit is thought to be critically important for spatial working memory, which is the ability to flexibly maintain and use trial-specific spatial information within a testing session. dHC-mPFC interactions have been shown to correlate with spatial working memory-guided task performance in rodents. However, there are no direct anatomical connections between the dHC and mPFC.

Pericyte Proteolytic Perforation: A Rapid Response to Ischemia

Fri, 13 Oct 2017 00:00:00 GMT

Material below summarizes the article ;Pericytes as Inducers of Rapid, Matrix Metalloproteinase-9-Dependent Capillary Damage during Ischemia, published on January 4, 2017, in ;JNeurosci ;and authored by Robert G. Underly, Manuel Levy, David A. Hartmann, Roger I. Grant, Ashley N. Watson, and Andy Y. Shih.

Pericytes are cells with elaborate processes that adorn capillaries throughout the brain.

They are a key component of the neurovascular unit (NVU) and control numerous vascular functions, including the development and maintenance of the blood-brain barrier (BBB). Their continuous signaling with endothelial cells regulates formation of normal tight junctions.

A deficiency in the number of pericytes, induced by the genetic disruption of platelet derived growth factor (PDGF) signaling with its β-receptor, results in a malformed BBB, plasma leakage, microaneurysms, and embryonic lethality.

Increases in Medial Temporal Lobe BOLD Activity Co-Occur With Decreases in Theta Power During Usage of the Method of Loci

Thu, 25 May 2017 00:00:00 GMT

Material below summarizes the article ;Spatial Mnemonic Encoding: Theta Power Decreases and Medial Temporal Lobe BOLD Increases Co-Occur during the Usage of the Method of Loci, published on December 21, 2016, in ;eNeuro ;and authored by Marie-Christin Fellner, Gregor Volberg, Maria Wimber, Markus Goldhacker, Mark W. Greenlee, and Simon Hanslmayr.

How does the brain form new memories? Converging evidence shows that the key brain structures crucial for the formation of new memories are located in the medial temporal lobes (MTL). The same MTL regions are also part of the network of regions underlying spatial processing and navigation.

The idea that memory encoding and spatial processing rely on common resources is not new. The beneficial effect of spatial processing on memory encoding is known since ancient Greek times, when the Method of Loci, a mnemonic using spatial processing to enhance memory, was first described.

Interpreting Human Genetic Variation With In Vivo Zebrafish Assays

Tue, 31 Oct 2017 00:00:00 GMT

Material below is adapted from the SfN Short Course ;Interpreting Human Genetic Variation With ;In Vivo ;Zebrafish Assays, by Erica E. Davis, PhD, Stephan Frangakis, and Nicholas Katsanis, PhD. Short Courses are daylong scientific trainings on emerging neuroscience topics and research techniques held the day before SfN’;s annual meeting. ;

Amidst the accelerating pace of gene discovery lies the realization that each individual’;s genome contain a sobering degree variation containing hundreds of mutations and variants —; many of them rare. Accurately interpreting the biological relevance of this variation poses considerable challenges to traditional methods of studying human genetic disorders.

The Drowsy Effect of Sugar

Tue, 21 Nov 2017 00:00:00 GMT

Material below summarizes the article ;Glucose Induces Slow-Wave Sleep by Exciting the Sleep-Promoting Neurons in the Ventrolateral Preoptic Nucleus: A New Link between Sleep and Metabolism, published on July 8, 2015, in ;JNeurosci ;and authored by Christophe Varin, Armelle Rancillac, Hélène Geoffroy, Sébastien Arthaud, Patrice Fort, and Thierry Gallopin.

Many people chronically suffer from sleep disorders that hinder daily functioning and adversely affect health and longevity. Despite the discovery of some basic neurobiological concepts, the cellular and molecular mechanisms involved in sleep promotion and in the coordinated succession of behavioral states remain largely unknown and are the subject of intense research. Better understanding of these physiological regulations is a challenge for contemporary neuroscience.

Adaptive Behavior Without New Learning: Salt Appetite and the Ventral Pallidum

Thu, 24 Aug 2017 00:00:00 GMT

Material below summarizes the article ;Optogenetic Inhibition of Ventral Pallidum Neurons Impairs Context-Driven Salt-Seeking, ;published on May 11, 2017, in ;JNeurosci ;and authored by Stephen E. Chang, Elizabeth B. Smedley, Katherine J. Stansfield, Jeffrey J. Stott, and Kyle S. Smith.

Our behavior is strongly influenced by the environmental cues around us. For example, cues associated with rewards, such as food, money, and drugs, can predict the availability of the rewards, and they can also acquire rewarding properties themselves. The acquisition of these cue-triggered behaviors is often considered to be the result of experience with the particular cue and its associated outcome.

However, changes in behavior can also occur without prior experience when physiological needs change.

No Pain, No Gain? Evidence for a Relationship Between Peripheral Nerve Regeneration and Pain

Wed, 10 May 2017 00:00:00 GMT

Material below summarizes the article ;Active Nerve Regeneration with Failed Target Reinnervation Drives Persistent Neuropathic Pain, ;published on January 26, 2017, in ;eNeuro ;and authored by Wenrui Xie, Judith A. Strong, and Jun-Ming Zhang.

Peripheral nerves differ from those in the brain in that they can readily regrow (regenerate) after injury. When a peripheral nerve is cut or crushed, the distal part that was disconnected from the cell body undergoes a process called Wallerian degeneration. Debris from injured axons is cleared, the axon ending dies back, and an environment conducive to regeneration develops. If the gap across the injury site is not too large, there is a window of opportunity —; a time period during which axons can regrow (regenerate) down the distal segment and reinnervate (reconnect to) the target tissues.

Manipulating Our Brain's Electrical Rhythms

Fri, 21 Jul 2017 00:00:00 GMT

Material below summarizes the article ;Driving Human Motor Cortical Oscillations Leads to Behaviorally Relevant Changes in Local GABAA Inhibition: A tACS-TMS Study, ;published on April 26, 2017, in ;JNeurosci ;and authored by Magdalena Nowak, Emily Hinson, Freek van Ede, Alek Pogosyan, Andrea Guerra, Andrew Quinn, Peter Brown, and Charlotte J. Stagg.

Brain rhythms, produced by the synchronized electrical activity of millions of neurons, are ubiquitous throughout the mammalian brain. Rhythmic —; or oscillatory —; activities can be detected using direct recordings in animals and electroencephalographic (EEG) recordings in humans and are seen across the brain at frequencies from less than one hertz to over 100 hertz.

How to Engage Institutions to Publicly Support Animal Research

Wed, 22 Feb 2017 00:00:00 GMT

Worldwide, researchers are engaging the public to increase their understanding of and support for animals in research. However, scientists need research institutions to facilitate greater openness about animal research conducted on campus and reject the fear of attracting negative attention.

This panel will discuss the proven benefits of positive institutional public communication and openness, as well as strategies to engage our institutions to publicly support animal research.

Using Single Cell Genomics to Analyze Neurons, Glia, and Circuits

Tue, 28 Mar 2017 00:00:00 GMT

Recent advances in technologies for preparing and analyzing cells and for sequencing nucleic acids are quickly making it possible to study the nervous system in information-rich, highly multi-dimensional ways. This rapidly-evolving field is presenting many exciting scientific opportunities, as well as new challenges in computational data analysis and the integration of emerging technologies with classical research questions. In this Short Course, learn about these emerging technologies to use them in your own research and discover new opportunities of interest to you in the future.

Shedding Light on Serotonergic Neurotransmission in Amygdala Circuits

Thu, 15 Jun 2017 00:00:00 GMT

Material below summarizes the article ;Control of Amygdala Circuits by 5-HT Neurons via 5-HT and Glutamate Cotransmission, published on February 15, 2017, in ;JNeurosci ;and authored by Ayesha Sengupta, Marco Bocchio, David M. Bannerman, Trevor Sharp, and Marco Capogna.

Serotonin (5-hydroxytryptamine, 5-HT) is a neurotransmitter implicated in a vast array of sensory, motor, and cognitive functions. Its role in emotional regulation is well-known because selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), drugs that increase extracellular 5-HT levels, are a widely prescribed treatment for depression and anxiety.

Discovering New Cell Types in the Visual Cortex

Tue, 12 Dec 2017 00:00:00 GMT

Material below is adapted from the SfN Short Course ;Adult Mouse Cortical Cell Taxonomy Revealed by Single-Cell Transcriptomics, by Bosiljka Tasic, PhD. Short Courses are daylong scientific trainings on emerging neuroscience topics and research techniques held the day before SfN’;s annual meeting.

Single-cell RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) is a powerful tool that can help researchers look more deeply at individual cells, in order to better understand differences within tissues or groups of cells. One research team used RNA-seq to classify more than 1,600 cells from the cortex of adult male mice.

Synaptic Compensation Driven by Action Potential-Independent Vesicle Release

Thu, 09 Feb 2017 00:00:00 GMT

Material below summarizes the article ;Spontaneous Release Regulates Synaptic Scaling in the Embryonic Spinal Network In Vivo, published on July 6, 2016, in JNeurosci and authored by Miguel Angel Garcia-Bereguiain, Carlos Gonzalez-Islas, Casie Lindsly, and Peter Wenner. ;

Neural networks must balance excitation and inhibition throughout development and maturity. Many neural disorders are associated with an imbalance of excitation and inhibition, including spasticity, seizure activity, and several neurodevelopmental disorders.

A constellation of mechanisms are thought to maintain the normal excitatory-inhibitory balance. When neural activity is perturbed, compensatory homeostatic mechanisms are engaged. These include changes in intrinsic membrane excitability —; for example, by changing the expression or activation state of K+ channels —; or changes in excitatory and inhibitory synaptic strength.

The Benefit of Motivation for Pain Relief

Tue, 02 May 2017 00:00:00 GMT

Material below summarizes the article ;Doubling Your Pay-Off: Winning Pain Relief Engages Endogenous Pain Inhibition, ;published on August 25, 2015, in ;eNeuro ;and authored by ;Susanne Becker, Wiebke Gandhi, Saskia Kwan, Alysha-Karima Ahmed, and Petra Schweinhardt.

The pleasure of pain relief is known to everyone —; satisfying, soothing, and much sought-after when one is in pain. For individuals suffering from chronic pain, pain relief is a major, often all-dominant, goal.

It is known that motivation to obtain reward augments the liking of the reward when obtained. Because pain relief can be conceptualized as a form of reward, we reasoned that a reduction of nociceptive input that is obtained in a motivated state should be associated with greater pain reduction than expected by the decreased nociceptive input.

Investigating Interneuron Siblings

Wed, 09 Aug 2017 00:00:00 GMT

Material below is adapted from the ;SfN ;Short Course ;Clonally Related Interneurons Are Not Constrained by Functional or Anatomical Boundaries, ;by Christian Mayer, PhD, Rachel C. Bandler, MD, PhD, and Gordon Fishell, PhD. Short Courses are daylong scientific trainings on emerging neuroscience topics and research techniques held the day before SfN’;s annual meeting.

Two types of cells, excitatory and inhibitory neurons, come from distinct lineages during the development of the cortex. Scientists know that the precursors to excitatory neurons divide and then stay associated with sister cells to form functional circuits. In contrast, inhibitory cells travel longer distances and contribute to multiple brain structures.

How to Use Your Brain to Make Time Work for You

Mon, 14 Apr 2025 15:52:00 GMT

Have you ever noticed how time stretches endlessly during a tedious presentation yet passes quickly when you’;re engaged in something exciting? This isn’;t just a trick of the mind, but a process shaped by the brain, and new results show anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) neurons reveal how it might work. These neurons respond to experiences and events in ways that influence time perception. At our lab, we uncovered a novel temporal encoding mechanism—;where neural representations of events slowly drift over time.

This discovery raises questions about productivity, time management, and mental well-being. Could restructuring daily routines—;such as time-blocking, role rotation, and mindful breaks—;alter our perception of time? How effective is this alteration? More importantly, this study explores how much control we can exert over time perception to improve efficiency and reduce burnout. Here, we see the ACC supporting productivity strategies, particularly those relevant to researchers and graduate students.

The Benefits And Perils Of COVID-19 Neuropsychiatric Studies

Wed, 03 Feb 2021 09:52:00 GMT

Why we need neuro-psychiatric monitoring and registries during the Global Pandemic

There is a growing awareness of COVID-19-associated CNS dysfunction likely caused by SARS-CoV-2 direct or indirect CNS invasion. This raises the possibility of a neuro-phenotype of COVID-19 with acute and delayed neuro-psychiatric effects. To this end, a few groups are advocating for prospective trials to monitor the evolution of neurologic symptoms associated with COVID-19 as well as the establishment of International COVID-19 Neurologic Registries.

There are multiple potential benefits to neuro-psych registries and clinical trials.

Elevate Your Science from Sexy to Rigorous

Tue, 02 Mar 2021 00:00:00 GMT

This resource was featured in the NeuroJobs Career Center. Visit today to search the world’;s largest source of neuroscience opportunities.

Researchers desire to make the most eye-catching discoveries to have a sensational impact on the academic community and general public. For this reason, researchers strive to obtain results that support their claims to the greatest extent possible. This "sexy science" has led to a spate of vigorous publications by researchers, and has shaped the scientific glory of today.

However, the results of such studies are sometimes unreproducible or derived from falsification. No matter how eye-catching a study is, if it is not credible, it is completely meaningless. Follow the advice in this article to introduce rigorous practices to your research.

Neuroscience and Mental Health in the Amazon

Thu, 27 Jun 2024 11:09:00 GMT

Valéria Muoio, a neuroscientist and neurosurgeon at the University of São Paulo and Neuronline Community Leader, describes the important work being done in the Brazilian Amazon rainforest to implement initiatives to help care for and preserve the local inhabitants, as well as the rainforest itself.

2024 Neuronline Wrapped

Mon, 16 Dec 2024 09:41:00 GMT

Explore the most popular resources in 2024 from Neuronline, SfN’s home for learning and discussion, in this interactive video.

Dialogues Between Neuroscience and Society: Susan Magsamen on Science, Art, and Aesthetic Experiences

Wed, 13 Nov 2024 12:12:00 GMT

This Dialogues Between Neuroscience and Society lecture was recorded Oct. 5, 2024, at Neuroscience 2024 in Chicago.

#38 Choice Behaviors and Prefrontal–Hippocampal Coupling Are Disrupted in a Rat Model of Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders

Tue, 27 May 2025 14:42:00 GMT

Amy Griffin, SuHyeong Kim, Anna Klintsova, and Hailey Rosenblum discuss their paper, “Choice Behaviors and Prefrontal–Hippocampal Coupling Are Disrupted in a Rat Model of Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders,” published in Vol. 45, Issue 10 of JNeurosci, with Editor-in-Chief Sabine Kastner.

#36 From Data to Practice: Assessing New Alzheimer's Disease Therapies

Tue, 21 Jan 2025 14:42:00 GMT

Karl Herrup, Michelle Jin, and James Noble share their perspectives on evaluating the clinical impacts of emerging treatments for Alzheimer’;s Disease with eNeuro Editor-in-Chief Christophe Bernard. ;

#37 An Open-Source 3D-Printable Platform for Testing Head-Fixed Cognitive Flexibility in Rodents

Tue, 29 Apr 2025 14:42:00 GMT

Tim Spellman discusses his paper, ;“An Open-Source 3D-Printable Platform for Testing Head-Fixed Cognitive Flexibility in Rodents,” ;with Reviewing Editor Mark Laubach. Spellman and Laubach also discuss the bigger picture benefits of sharing open-source tools and data for reproducibility and for cost-effective solutions that any lab can use. ;

#39 JNeurosci Spotlight (Part 1): Useful Genetic Mouse Lines

Wed, 25 Jun 2025 14:42:00 GMT

Shangzhou Xia and Zhen Zhao discuss their paper, “Atp13a5 Marker Reveals Pericyte Specification in the Mouse Central Nervous System,” published in Vol. 44, Issue 43 of JNeurosci, with Megan Sansevere from SfN’;s Journals’; staff.

Genetically Encoded Calcium Indicators Monitor Cell Communication

Fri, 29 May 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Material below is adapted from the SfN Short Course ;Advances in Multi-Neuronal Monitoring of Brain Activity, by Douglas S. Kim, PhD, Vivek Jayaraman, PhD, Loren L. Looger, PhD, and Karel Svoboda, PhD. Short Courses are daylong scientific trainings on emerging neuroscience topics and research techniques held the day before SfN’;s annual meeting.

As neuroscientists try to understand the dynamics of both large networks of neurons and single cells, new methods to monitor neuronal activity are being developed. One way to study synaptic and action potential activity is to measure intracellular calcium. Within dendritic spines, calcium transients correlate with synaptic activity, and in cell bodies, calcium signals accurately reflect action potentials (spikes). ;

Forgetting at the Push of a Button: Impairing Reconsolidation of Instrumental Memories

Thu, 19 Nov 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Material below summarizes the article ;Reduction in Responding for Sucrose and Cocaine Reinforcement by Disruption of Memory Reconsolidation, ;published on April 29, 2015, in ;eNeuro ;and authored by Marc T. J. Exton-McGuiness, and Jonathan L. C. Lee.

Reconsolidation is the process by which memories are updated with new information. The retrieval of an existing memory, if combined with the inclusion of new information, necessitates this reconsolidation process in order to update it.

However, reconsolidation can also be disrupted to produce amnesia. While erasing memories may seem undesirable, not all memories are beneficial. Disorders such as post-traumatic stress and addiction are believed to be underpinned by harmful, or maladaptive, memories. Disruption of these maladaptive memories by interfering with reconsolidation may provide a novel avenue for clinical treatments.

Criteria for Developing Ethical Animal Research Guidelines

Wed, 10 Jun 2015 00:00:00 GMT

High-quality science and high standards of animal care go hand in hand. In order to achieve good science, it’s essential that we have healthy animals. If our animals are sick, hungry, malnourished, housed poorly, or depressed, we’ll see the impact on our work.

Sex Does Matter: Sex Differences in Molecular Regulation of Synapses

Thu, 29 Oct 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Material below summarizes the article ;Sex Differences in Molecular Signaling at Inhibitory Synapses in the Hippocampus, ;on August 12, 2015, in ;JNeurosci ;and authored ;by Nino Tabatadze, Guangzhe Huang, Renee M. May, Anant Jain, and Catherine S. Woolley.

Many brain disorders vary between the sexes, in their incidence, symptoms, and/or responses to treatment. In most cases, no one knows the sources of these differences: Are they due to intrinsic biological differences between male and female brains? Are they due to cultural differences in how boys and girls are raised – the different experiences of men and women in society?

GABAergic Circuitry Assembly and Schizophrenia: Neurodevelopmental Psychiatric Disorders

Fri, 01 May 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Dr. Beatriz Rico from the Institute of Neuroscience in Alicante gives a talk on GABAergic circuitry assembly and schizophrenia.

Familial Dysautonomia and Parkinson's Disease: Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell Models of Disease

Thu, 17 Sep 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Lorenz Studer, director at the Center for Stem Cell Biology, discusses using induced pluripotent stem cells to model human diseases and development at the 2013 Neurobiology of Disease workshop at the Society for Neuroscience’;s annual meeting.

Fast, Focused, and Far-Reaching: A New 3D, Two-Photon Imaging Technique

Wed, 10 Jun 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Material below is adapted from the SfN Short Course ;Acousto-optical Scanning–Based High-Speed 3D Two-Photon Imaging in Vivo, ;by Balázs Rózsa, MD, PhD, Gergely Szalay, and Gergely Katona. Short Courses are daylong scientific trainings on emerging neuroscience topics and research techniques held the day before SfN’;s annual meeting.

Oftentimes when imaging the brain, a wider view is sacrificed for finer detail, or vice versa. Although the ideal imaging technique could resolve both signals propagating within single neurons and signals sent across a whole network of hundreds of neurons, the two views present different challenges. Imaging in single cells must be able to distinguish activity in adjacent compartments (the soma compared to the dendrite, for example) while imaging networks of hundreds of cells must be able to measure simultaneous activity in cells that are hundreds of micrometers apart. Because of this, most current technologies are optimized for just one of the two views. A microscope that could tackle both would need to be fast yet fine-detailed, focused yet far-reaching.

Animal Research: What You May Not Know

Wed, 15 Jul 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Sharon L. Juliano, director of neuroscience and a professor at Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, discusses the importance of animals in research.

Neural Reward Circuitry: Typical Development and Involvement in Depression and Substance Use

Fri, 29 May 2015 00:00:00 GMT

The FENS-SfN Summer School on Neurodevelopmental Psychiatric Disorders took place June 22-28, 2014, in Bertinoro, Italy. Erika Forbes, PhD, from the University of Pittsburgh talks about Neural Reward Circuitry: Typical Development, and Role in Adolescent Depression and Substance Use.

I Wanted To Be a Detective but Discovered Neuroscience and Limitless Unsolved Mysteries

Thu, 01 Oct 2015 00:00:00 GMT

This an audio-only recording captured at Neuroscience 2014.

It never gets old to watch single channel currents, in real time, in a stochastic dance across the screen. The more you look the more you see —; an unquestionable truism in science and an especially apt description of Diane Lipscombe’;s current research on cell-specific control of calcium ion channel splicing. Calcium ion channel genes have the capacity to generate numerous isoforms but does each have unique function? Lipscombe reviews experimental approaches, including exon-specific targeting, to ask if individual sites of alternative splicing impact behavior and if isoforms have therapeutic value.

Human Brain Disorders in a Dish: Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell Models of Disease

Thu, 17 Sep 2015 00:00:00 GMT

The aim of the 2013 Neurobiology of Disease Workshop at the Society for Neuroscience’s annual meeting was to help frame important unanswered research questions related to iPSC-based disease modeling, and to stimulate the interest and understanding of investigators new to the field. The Neurobiology of Disease Workshop provides students and early-career scientists with in-depth overviews of diseases of the nervous system.

Neurobiology of Disease Workshop: Stroke Recovery

Thu, 20 May 2021 10:37:00 GMT

Stroke is a leading cause of death and disability worldwide. From stem cells to brain-computer interfaces, novel functional neuroimaging techniques to new animal model approaches, stroke research is pushing the boundaries of neuroscience.

The 2014 Neurobiology of Disease Workshop reviews stroke research concepts beyond the acute injury setting, exploring efforts to define and promote productive long-term recovery.

Nicotine Receptors Regulate Activity of Hypocretin Neurons

Thu, 05 Nov 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Material below summarizes the article ;Acetylcholine Acts Through Nicotinic Receptors to Enhance the Firing Rate of a Subset of Hypocretin Neurons in the Mouse Hypothalamus Through Distinct Presynaptic and Postsynaptic Mechanisms, ;published on February 28, 2015, in ;eNeuro ;and authored by Wenliang Zhou, Zio-Bing Gao, and Marina R. Picciotto.

The primary component of tobacco driving addiction is nicotine. Nicotine exerts its effects through a class of membrane proteins throughout the brain and body called nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs). These receptors are normally activated by the neurotransmitter acetylcholine, but are hijacked by the nicotine in tobacco. nAChRs are found widely throughout the brain. Nicotine and acetylcholine can activate nAChRs and increase the activity of neurons expressing these receptors. This provides a molecular basis for nicotine to exert multiple biological effects, and ultimately can lead to nicotine dependence. Hypocretin, or orexin, neurons are a small group of neurons with many important functions, including controlling circadian rhythms regulating appetite, and feeding behavior; contributing to arousal, motivation, and emotions; and modulating drug addiction. Many of these behaviors are also modulated by nicotine exposure.

Analyzing Circuits With Extracellular Recording and Optogenetics

Tue, 29 Sep 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Material below is adapted from the SfN Short Course ;Local Circuit Analysis With Integrated Large-Scale Recording of Neuronal Activity and Optogenics, ;by György Buzsáki, PhD. Short Courses are daylong scientific trainings on emerging neuroscience topics and research techniques held the day before SfN’;s annual meeting.

Understanding all the parts of a neuronal circuit will ultimately help explain how the circuit —; and the brain —; gives rise to behavior. To investigate how a circuit functions, different types of neurons spread across the brain need to be monitored simultaneously, and the contribution of each neuron determined. This requires hardware capable of recording many individual neurons, methods to separate spikes, and a way to identify different neuronal types.

Methyl Supplementation and DNA Methylation: Providing More Building Blocks to Reverse Cocaine Addiction

Wed, 21 Oct 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Material below summarizes the article ;Methyl Supplementation Attenuates Cocaine-Seeking Behaviors and Cocaine-Induced c-Fos Activation in a DNA Methylation-Dependent Manner, ;published ;on June 10, 2015, in ;JNeurosci ;and authored ;by ;Katherine N. Wright, Fiona Hollis, Florian Duclot, Amanda M. Dossat, Caroline E. Strong, T. Chase Francis, Roger Mercer, Jian Feng, David M. Dietz, Mary Kay Lobo, Eric J. Nestler, and Mohamed Kabbaj.

Relapse is one of the signature hallmarks of cocaine addiction, as the majority of addicts experience relapse at some point on their path to recovery. Unfortunately, current treatments have been lacking, highlighting the need for better understanding of the neurobiology of addiction toward the development of more effective therapies.

Epigenetic factors, defined as changes to gene expression that do not alter the DNA sequence, have recently been identified as targets by which environmental stimuli can induce changes in cellular gene expression and activity. Studies have found that epigenetic markers are responsible for the neural adaptations that occur in response to chronic exposure to cocaine, which in turn can inform how a neuron responds to a later exposure to cocaine or environmental triggers, such as what occurs with relapse.

How to Discuss Animal Research With the Public

Tue, 08 Dec 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Talking about the importance of animal research with the public is something that every neuroscientist can and should do.

How Misfiring of Striatal Cholingeric Interneurons Can Explain Early Cognitive Deficits in Huntington's Disease

Thu, 08 Oct 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Material below summarizes the article ;Enhanced GABAergic Inputs Contribute to Functional Alterations of Cholinergic Interneurons in the R6/2 Mouse Model of Huntington’;s Disease, published on February 24, 2015, in ;eNeuro ;and authored by Sandra M. Holley, Prasad R. Joshi, Anna Parievsky, Laurie Galvan, Jane Y. Chen, Yvette E. Fisher, My N. Huynh, Carlos Cepeda, and Michael S. Levine.

Huntington’;s disease (HD) is an inheritable neurological disorder caused by a triplet repeat (CAG) expansion in the huntingtin (HTT) gene located in the short arm of chromosome four. Symptoms include uncontrollable dance-like movements (chorea), cognitive deficits, and psychiatric disturbances. Some of the early, or prodromic, symptoms include an inability to shift attention and other behavioral inflexibilities.

HIF-1α and Multiple Sclerosis: A Case Not Yet Proven

Thu, 17 Dec 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Material below summarizes the article ;Hypoxia Inducible Factor-1α in Astrocytes and/or Myeloid Cells Is Not Required for the Development of Autoimmune Demyelinating Disease, ;published on March 30, 2015, in ;eNeuro ;and authored by ;Natacha Le Moan, Kim M. Baeten, Victoria A. Rafalski, Jae Kyu Ryu, Pamela E. Rios Coronado, Catherine Bedard, Catriona Syme, Dimitrios Davalos, and Katerina Akassoglou.

In biomedical research, as in many aspects of life, things are not always as simple as they first seem. It’;s easy to start barking up the wrong tree. Our recent work exposed one of those “trees” in multiple sclerosis (MS): We found that a specific protein called hypoxia-inducible factor-1α, or HIF-1α, is likely not a main culprit in MS. However, we did learn a lot about what HIF-1α does in disease processes in the nervous system.

How Animal Research Improves Lives

Fri, 24 Apr 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Doctors know that helping patients means being aware of ongoing research in the field and understanding how different therapies fit in to a patient's individual treatment plan. In this module developed by SfN with support from the Esther A. & and Joseph Klingenstein Fund, Inc., ; you learn from leading researchers studying Schizophrenia, Parkinson’;s, Epilepsy, and Rett Syndrome discussing how animal models affect developing treatments for these diseases and disorders.

Dimerization With the Ghrelin Receptor: Implications for Weight Loss Drugs

Thu, 03 Dec 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Material below summarizes the article ;Growth Hormone Secretagogue Receptor Dimers: A New Pharmacological Target, ;published on April 14, 2015, in ;eNeuro ;and authored by Martin Wellman and Alfonso Abizaid.

Ghrelin’;s been a star among many researchers since its discovery in 1999. Its rise to fame is largely attributed to its role in feeding behavior, an area eagerly being examined as a result of our current obesity problems. Ghrelin, a peptide produced primarily by the stomach, increases food intake and preference for fatty foods, and protects fat stores.

Totally Cerebral: The Man Without a Memory

Tue, 27 Oct 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Imagine that every time you met someone new, the moment they left the room you forgot you had ever spoken to them, and when they returned it was as if you had never seen them before. Imagine remembering your childhood, your parents, the history you learned in school, but never being able to form a new long term memory after the age of 27.

Welcome to the life of the famous amnesic patient “HM,” who had experimental surgery to relieve his terrible epilepsy and awoke with a profound memory impairment.

Totally Cerebral: Untangling the Mystery of Memory

Thu, 10 Sep 2015 00:00:00 GMT

How has the understanding of the mysterious tissue between our ears changed in the past 50 years? In her Totally Cerebral episodes on Transistor, neuroscientist Wendy Suzuki introduces the scientists who have uncovered some of the deepest secrets about how our brains make us who we are.

Suzuki begins by talking with groundbreaking experimental psychologist Brenda Milner who, in the 1950s, completely changed our understanding of the parts of the brain important for forming new long-term memories. Through her observation and careful study of patients with profound amnesia, Milner wrote a paper in 1957 that broke with the accepted theories about memory, and blew open the entire field of neuroscience.

Persistent Adaptations in Afferents to Ventral Tegmental Dopamine Neurons After Opiate Withdrawal

Thu, 10 Dec 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Material below summarizes the article ;Persistent Adaptations in Afferents to Ventral Tegmental Dopamine Neurons after Opiate Withdrawal, ;on July 15, 2015, in ;JNeurosci ;and authored ;by Jennifer Kaufling and Gary Aston-Jones.

The ventral tegmental (VTA) is a complex and heterogeneous structure. Dopaminergic (DA) neurons are a major population of VTA neurons and play a crucial role in reward processes, motivated behavior and drug addiction. Opiate addiction is a growing public health problem, and understanding the mechanisms of opiate actions in brain is crucial in order to treat dependent patients. For those reasons, we focused this study on the acute and chronic effects of morphine on the activity of VTA DA neurons.

Spinocerebellar Ataxia Type 6 Protein Aggregates Cause Deficits in Motor Learning and Cerebellar Plasticity

Tue, 22 Sep 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Material below summarizes the article ;Spinocerebellar Ataxia Type 6 Protein Aggregates Cause Deficits in Motor Learning and Cerebellar Plasticity, ;published on June 10, 2015, in ;JNeurosci ;and authored ;by Melanie D. Mark, Martin Krause, Henk-Jan Boele, Wolfgang Kruse, Stefan Pollok, Thomas Kuner, Deniz Dalkara, Sebastiaan Koekkboek, Chris I. De Zeeuw, and Stefan Herlitze.

In humans, several mutations in a particular calcium channel, the P/Q type, lead to neurological diseases, one of which manifests to ataxia. Ataxia is a disorder where an individual loses coordination or control of muscle movement. SCA6, or spinocerebellar ataxia type 6, is a movement disorder, which results in the loss of a special type of neuron in the cerebellum called Purkinje cells. These neurons process sensory information to coordinate movements. The disease has a late onset and develops in the second period of life. Patients are often wheelchair-bound, and no therapies are available.

Shining a Light (Microscope) Onto the Brain's Connections

Tue, 22 Dec 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Material below is adapted from the SfN Short Course ;Mapping Brain Circuitry with a Light Microscope, ;by Pavel Osten MD, PhD and Troy W. Margrie, PhD. Short Courses are daylong scientific trainings on emerging neuroscience topics and research techniques held the day before SfN’;s annual meeting.

Since the days of Camillo Golgi and Santiago Ramón Y Cajal, light microscopes have provided neuroscientists a glimpse into the anatomy of the brain. Advances in the microscopes themselves and methods to stain and trace neurons have revealed various pathways and structures, as well as organization and hierarchies specific to certain brain regions. Three large projects (the Mouse Brain Architecture Project, the Allen Mouse Brain Connectivity Atlas, and the Mouse Connectome Project) are currently attempting to take our knowledge to another level, by mapping all the connections within the brain. Together with new technologies, these projects are helping bring the possibility of a complete map of the mouse brain within reach.

Widening the View of Two-Photon Microscopy

Wed, 08 Jul 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Material below is adapted from the SfN Short Course ;Mesoscale Two-Photon Microscopy Engineering a Wide Field of View with Cellular Resolution, by Jeffrey N. Stirman, PhD, and Spencer L. Smith, PhD. Short Courses are daylong scientific trainings on emerging neuroscience topics and research techniques held the day before SfN’;s annual meeting.

Mapping activity in the brain requires both a wide lens —; to see connections extending across brain regions —; and a fine focus —; to see the cells forming those connections. Two-photon microscopy coupled with calcium imaging meets the criteria for a fine focus; it can detect activity within individual neurons or within a local population of neurons. But beyond a small window, two-photon excitation lessens and the resolution suffers. This narrows the field of view, making mapping long-range connections impossible. Fortunately, newly described tweaks to both the microscopes and imaging techniques are making “mesoscale” two-photon microscopy possible, allowing wider views than can span brain regions a millimeter or more apart. Recently, this type of imaging has been performed in vivo to map activity in the visual system of mice.

The Neuroscience of Gaming

Tue, 22 Sep 2020 09:42:00 GMT

Video games are almost as divisive as they are ubiquitous. While some claim they make people antisocial and inactive, others argue that video games could be the next frontier of education and healthcare.

Jonathan Moreno, an ethics and philosophy professor at the University of Pennsylvania, moderates the Social Issues Roundtable, “The Neuroscience of Gaming,” at Neuroscience 2014. Speakers from a variety of disciplines address these claims through their recent research. As video games begin to be applied in the health sciences, neuroscientists need to be aware of the potential health benefits and risks of this technology.

Neural Synchrony in Schizophrenia

Fri, 12 Jun 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Peter Uhlhaas from the University of Glasgow, UK, talks about neural synchrony in schizophrenia at the FENS-SfN Summer School on Neurodevelopmental Psychiatric Disorders, which took place June 22-28, 2014, in Bertinoro, Italy.

Interview With FENS-SfN Summer School Organizers: Oscar Marin and David Lewis

Fri, 29 May 2015 00:00:00 GMT

The FENS-SfN Summer School on Neurodevelopmental Psychiatric Disorders took place June 22-28, 2014, in Bertinoro, Italy. Watch an interview with the scientific organizers of the FENS-SfN Summer School 2014 on Neurodevelopmental Psychiatric Disorders.

Animal Models of ADHD: Neurodevelopmental Psychiatric Disorders

Fri, 24 Apr 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Susan Andersen, McLean Hospital, Harvard University, Belmont, USA, talks about animal models of ADHD: What they can tell us about underlying pathology.

Genetic Heterogeneity of Neurodevelopmental Psychiatric Disorders: Neurodevelopmental Psychiatric Disorders

Fri, 08 May 2015 00:00:00 GMT

The FENS-SfN Summer School on Neurodevelopmental Psychiatric Disorders took place June 22nd to 28th, 2014, in Bertinoro, Italy. Dr. Kevin Mitchell from Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland, talks about the genetic heterogeneity of neurodevelopmental disorders ;—; implications for animal modelling-1 and modelling-2.

A Collective Approach to Improving Scientific Rigor

Thu, 02 Mar 2023 10:38:00 GMT

Q&A: Long-term Neurological Effects of COVID-19

Fri, 07 Apr 2023 14:14:00 GMT

The COVID-19 pandemic will be long remembered because of the death toll it caused worldwide and how it impacted our everyday lives. It is also still remembered because of some long-term effects of the viral infection which have been coined as “long COVID”.

Research Rigor is a Mindset — A Bioinformatician Bench Biologist’s Conception

Wed, 19 Apr 2023 12:37:00 GMT

“Rigor” is the vaguest sought-after quality of research. If you attach a license to your work, you can say it’;s open. If you guide a collaborator through a protocol, your work is reproducible.

Doing Well by Doing Good With Open Science

Wed, 01 Mar 2023 16:48:00 GMT

Neuron Specific Endosomal Regulators of Excitatory Synaptic Neurotransmission and Synapse Stability

Material below summarizes the article ;Neuron-Specific Gene 2 (NSG2) Encodes an AMPA Receptor Interacting Protein That Modulates Excitatory Neurotransmission, published on January 4, 2019, in ;eNeuro ;and authored by Praveen Chander, Matthew J. Kennedy, Bettina Winckler, and Jason P. Weick.

Normal brain function depends on the proper communication of information among billions of neurons. This communication occurs at specialized junctions called synapses, and each neuron contains approximately a thousand synapses, making the total number of synapses in the human brain on the order of 100 trillion.

Adding to this complexity is the fact that each synapse contains a large number of proteins that function as receptors as well as scaffolding, signaling, and trafficking proteins. While this complexity is beginning to be unraveled, a major outstanding question in the field concerns how synapses are assembled during development, when synapses serving all of these functions form within a short time period. Specifically, we were interested in unraveling how nascent synapses (which contain relatively few proteins) recruit the synaptic protein complement during development.

Understanding How Early Life Experience Shapes Development

This an audio-only recording captured at Neuroscience 2018.

Brain development during the early postnatal stage is extremely sensitive and complex, as well as crucial to proper function throughout an individual’;s lifetime. Early in her life, Tomomi Shimogori faced the challenge of learning multiple languages fluently. Over the course of her research career, her interest in understanding the relationship of early brain development and behavior would drive her to study developmental biology and the effects of early life experience, including language learning. Through her research at the RIKEN Center for Brain Science, she now seeks to understand at the molecular level how early embryonic development, during which time genes may exert greater control than environmental cues, changes an animal’;s behavior. Most research related to early life experience has been conducted in rodents, primarily because a large range of genetic tools exists to investigate it, but the human brain is far different from the mouse one. As Shimogori explains in this Meet the Expert, her lab, in collaboration with Japan’;s Brain Mapping by Integrated Neurotechnologies for Disease Studies (Brain/MINDS) project, is developing a model in the common marmoset based around the creation of a gene atlas, which will help fill the gap in knowledge between that of the rodent brain and that of the human brain.

Retinoic Acid Signaling Mediates Homeostatic Plasticity in Cortex

Material below summarizes the article ;Retinoic Acid Receptor RARα-Dependent Synaptic Signaling Mediates Homeostatic Synaptic Plasticity at the Inhibitory Synapses of Mouse Visual Cortex, ;published on October 24, 2018, in ;JNeurosci ;and authored by Lei R. Zhong, Xin Chen, Esther Park, Thomas C. Südhof, and Lu Chen.

The ability of an individual to fully function —; to think, feel, plan, and act —; depends on the synaptic connections formed between neurons in the brain.

The process through which synaptic connections change with experience is referred to as synaptic plasticity. Defective synaptic plasticity has been implicated in various neurological diseases, so a major effort in neuroscience research is to study molecular and cellular mechanisms underlying synaptic plasticity.

Most current research focuses on Hebbian plasticity, a form of synaptic plasticity believed to directly underlie our ability to learn and form memories. Coordinated activity between pre-synaptic and post-synaptic neurons drives strengthening of the connection, while out-of-sync activity leads to weakening of the connection.

Retinal Transplants Restore Visual Cortex Responses

Material below summarizes the article ;Detailed Visual Cortical Responses Generated by Retinal Sheet Transplants in Rats With Severe Retinal Degeneration, published on December 12, 2018, in ;JNeurosci ;and authored by Andrzej T. Foik, Georgina A. Lean, Leo R. Scholl, Bryce T. McLelland, Anuradha Mathur, Robert B. Aramant, Magdalene J. Seiler, and David C. Lyon.

As humans, we rely heavily on vision. Defects in the retina can have major impacts and significantly worsen quality of life. One cause of vision loss is degeneration of photoreceptors, the cells in the retina that detect light. This occurs, for example, in people with age-related macular degeneration or retinitis pigmentosa. Many approaches have aimed to slow the loss of photoreceptors and ensuing blindness, but in some cases there are no longer sufficient photoreceptors to rescue. Therefore, the only chance to bring back vision is through injection of retinal progenitor cells or transplantation of healthy retinal sheets.

Rewiring of Cortex to Brainstem After Brain Injury Contributes to Recovery of Dexterity

Material below summarizes the article ;Hand Motor Recovery Following Extensive Frontoparietal Cortical Injury Is accompanied by Upregulated Corticoreticular Projections in the Monkey, ;published on July 11, 2018, in ;JNeurosci ;and authored by Warren G. Darling, Jizhi Ge, Kimberly S. Stilwell-Morecraft, Diane L. Rotella, Marc A. Pizzimenti, and Robert J. Morecraft.

Injuries to areas of the brain responsible for motor function can have devastating and permanent effects on motor abilities.

For example, after injury to motor areas on one side of the brain due to stroke or traumatic brain injury, use of the hand and digits on the opposite side of the body to grasp and manipulate small objects is often severely impaired.

New Immunostaining Analysis Reveals Spatial and Molecular Variability in Synaptic Scaling

Thu, 23 Jul 2020 00:00:00 GMT

Material below summarizes the article ;Differential Scaling of Synaptic Molecules within Functional Zones of an Excitatory Synapse during Homeostatic Plasticity, published on March 17, 2020, in ;eNeuro ;and authored by Sridevi Venkatesan, Sandhya Subramaniam, Premchand Rajeev, Yukti Chopra, Mini Jose, and Deepak Nair.

Highlights:

A new analytical paradigm allows direct estimation of multiplicative increases in synaptic protein levels during homeostatic scaling in neuronal cultures.

This method can quantify multiplicative scaling using immunocytochemistry for any pre- or postsynaptic protein within distinct neuronal compartments and could be used in future studies to characterize homeostatic scaling deficits in disease models.

Together with super-resolution microscopy this analysis revealed that subsynaptic pools of AMPA receptors are altered differentially within functional zones of an excitatory synapse.

Ethical and Social Issues Raised by Neural-Digital Interfaces

Thu, 05 Mar 2020 00:00:00 GMT

How will scientists keep humanity at the center of rapidly expanding human-technology symbiotic unions?

This Social Issues Roundtable addresses questions about technology's impact on society and the conditions for its governance. Panelists discuss connecting humans and machines in the context of social issues — such as equality, identify, security, privacy, and access — rather than medical application.

Lowering Prepubertal GnRH Neuron Activity Changes Adult Activity and Reproductive Cycles

Thu, 17 Dec 2020 00:00:00 GMT

Material below summarizes the article ;Chemogenetic Suppression of GnRH Neurons during Pubertal Development Can Alter Adult GnRH Neuron Firing Rate and Reproductive Parameters in Female Mice, ;published on June 8, 2020, in ;eNeuro ;and authored by Eden A. Dulka, R. Anthony DeFazio, and Suzanne M. Moenter.

Highlights

Chemogenetic manipulation of Gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) neuron firing rate results in the expected changes in GnRH neuron firing and pituitary hormone release.

Suppressing prepubertal GnRH neuron activity leads to increased adult GnRH neuron firing rate and days in diestrus.

Activating prepubertal GnRH neuron activity had no effect on adult firing rate and did not rescue adult reproductive phenotypes in mice exposed to androgens before birth.

Study Question
Do changes in prepubertal GnRH neuron activity help establish the adult GnRH neuronal network and adult reproductive function? Can correcting altered prepubertal GnRH neuron firing in a mouse model of reproductive dysfunction ameliorate disruptions in adult reproductive function and GnRH neuron firing?

How SfN's Founding Hopes Still Fuel Goals for the Next 50 Years

Wed, 16 Sep 2020 00:00:00 GMT

In 1971, at the very first plenary session of the newly formed Society for Neuroscience (SfN), Vernon Mountcastle delivered his keynote address as the first SfN president. He took stock of the great achievements of the 1960s, which led to the formation of SfN, and looked forward to how this new group would shape neuroscience and society in the years to come.

Now, as we mark the 50th anniversary of the society's founding, SfN's Trainee Advisory Committee (TAC) took on the same task —; below and in their Journal of Neuroscience article, The Next 50 Years of Neuroscience —; reflecting on a foundation of astounding work and predicting what the next 50 years will hold. Separated by time and space, Mountcastle's words echo in the hearts and minds of the newest generation of scientists.

;

The Human Brain Tracks Speech More Closely in Time Than Other Sounds

Thu, 24 Sep 2020 00:00:00 GMT

Material below summarizes the article ;Dynamic Time-Locking Mechanism in the Cortical Representation of Spoken Words, ;published on June 8, 2020, in ;eNeuro ;and authored by Ali Faisal, Anni Nora, Hanna Renvall, Jaeho Seol, Elia Formisano, and Riitta Salmelin.

Highlights

Computational modeling of cortical responses highlights the importance of accurate temporal tracking of speech in the auditory cortices.

This time-locked encoding mechanism is likely pivotal for transforming the acoustic features into linguistic representations.

No similar relevance of time-locked encoding was observed for nonspeech sounds, including temporally variable human-made sounds such as laughter.

Distinct Genetic Signatures of Human Cortical and Subcortical Memory

Thu, 07 May 2020 00:00:00 GMT

Material below summarizes the article ;Distinct Genetic Signatures of Cortical and Subcortical Regions Associated with Human Memory, ;published on December 9, 2019, in ;eNeuro ;and authored by Pin Kwang Tan, Egor Ananyev, and Po-Jang Hsieh.

Highlights

Despite a common involvement in memory, gene signatures of cortical and subcortical memory are largely distinct.

Cortical memory genes are linked to immune and epigenetic regulation, while subcortical memory genes are associated with neurogenesis and the differentiation of glial cells.

Overlapping genes between cortical and subcortical memory are involved in transcription regulation, synaptic plasticity, and glutamate receptor signaling.

Revealing a Sexually Differentiated Neural Circuit for Sensing Social Stimuli

Thu, 17 Sep 2020 00:00:00 GMT

Material below summarizes the article ;Synaptic Connections of Aromatase Circuits in the Medial Amygdala are Sex Specific, published on May 29, 2020, in ;eNeuro ;and authored by Addison Billing, Marcelo Henrique Correia, Diane A. Kelly, Geng-Lin Li, and Joseph Bergan.

Highlights

Aromatase-producing cells in the mouse medial amygdala receive input originating from sensory cells in the vomeronasal organ that express a single class of receptors known to detect chemicals that convey information about the age, sex, and breeding condition of other mice.

We did not observe sex differences in the intrinsic electrophysiological properties of aromatase-producing cells in the medial amygdala; however, we found a robust anatomical sex difference in the number of synapses that connect the accessory olfactory bulb – and thus the vomeronasal organ - to these cells.

Males have nearly an order of magnitude more of these synaptic connections than do females, an anatomical difference that could play a role in shaping sex differences in social behaviors mediated by the medial amygdala.

Loss of TRESK Potassium Channel Causes Headache but Not Body Pain

Thu, 16 Jan 2020 00:00:00 GMT

Material below summarizes the article ;Cellular and Network Mechanisms May Generate Sparse Coding of Sequential Object Encounters in Hippocampal-Like Circuits, published on July 19, 2019, in ;eNeuro ;and authored by Anh-Tuan Trinh, Stephen E. Clarke, Erik Harvey-Girard, and Leonard Maler.

Highlights

We found that loss of ;TWIK-related spinal cord K⁺ ;(TRESK) in all trigeminal ganglia (TG) neurons preferentially increased the intrinsic excitability of small-diameter TG nociceptors that express neuropeptide CGRP (calcitonin gene-related peptide) or TRPM8 channels.
Compared with wild-type (WT) controls, TRESK knockout (KO) mice exhibited more robust trigeminal pain, especially headache-like behaviors, but displayed normal body and visceral pain responses, indicating that genetic loss of TRESK significantly increases the chance of developing headache.
Our study highlighted some exquisite differences between the head pain-sensing TG neurons and body pain-sensing dorsal root ganglion (DRG) neurons in response to ion channel defects, supporting a causal relationship between defective TRESK channel and higher migraine susceptibility.

Superior Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex Supports Introspection in Monkeys

Thu, 25 Jun 2020 00:00:00 GMT

Material below summarizes the article Mnemonic Introspection in Macaques Is Dependent on Superior Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex But Not Orbitofrontal Cortex, published on July 24, 2019, in JNeurosci and authored by Sze Chai Kwok (郭思齊), Yudian Cai (蔡禹甸), and Mark J. Buckley.

Highlights:

Macaque monkeys can evaluate their own memory success.

Introspection of their own memory success depends on the superior dorsolateral prefrontal cortex but not the orbitofrontal cortex.

PFC contains distinct elements of metacognition.

Novel Viral-Genetic Method for Tracing Axon Collaterals of Broadly Projecting Neurons

Thu, 22 Oct 2020 12:41:00 GMT

Material below summarizes the article ;An Intersectional Viral-Genetic Method for Fluorescent Tracing of Axon Collaterals Reveals Details of Noradrenergic Locus Coeruleus Structure, ;published on April 30, 2020, in ;eNeuro ;and authored by Nicholas W. Plummer, Daniel J. Chandler, Jeanne M. Powell, Erica L. Scappini, Barry D. Waterhouse and Patricia Jensen.

Highlights

TrAC (Tracing Axon Collaterals) is a new viral-genetic method that allows simultaneous visualization of axon collaterals from a genetically defined neuronal population and a projection-based subpopulation.

TrAC was used to show that norepinephrine (NE)-containing locus coeruleus (LC) neurons projecting to the medial prefrontal cortex and primary motor cortex differ from each other and from the LC as a whole in their pattern of axon collateralization.

Labeled LC-NE neurons have dense axon projections to their primary target in the cerebral cortex, and widespread, albeit sparse, collateral projections to other cortical and subcortical regions.

A Neurobiological Perspective on Emerging Mental Illness Research

Tue, 23 Jun 2020 09:26:00 GMT

Marta Pratelli researches the downstream effects of environment and experience on brain health and the risk of developing psychiatric illness. In addition to insights from her own research, in this interview she offers her perspective on the role of collaboration and chance in scientific breakthroughs as well as areas of mental health research, such as epigenetics, that have potential for future outcomes.

This interview is a complement to SfN’;s podcast series ;History of SfN: 50th Anniversary. Guests on the podcast were asked to nominate individuals whose careers are making positive cultural or scientific impacts that will shape the next 50 years of neuroscience. Marta Pratelli was nominated by ;Nick Spitzer, Atkinson Family Chair Distinguished Professor of Biological Sciences at University of California, San Diego.

Mouse Models of Fragile X Syndrome Exhibit Subtle Deficits in Auditory Spatial Hearing

Wed, 28 Oct 2020 10:13:00 GMT

Material below summarizes the article ;Characterization of Auditory and Binaural Spatial Hearing in a Fragile X Syndrome Mouse Model, published on January 17, 2020, in ;eNeuro ;and authored by Elizabeth A. McCullagh, Shani Poleg, Nathaniel T. Greene, Molly M. Huntsman, Daniel J. Tollin, and Achim Klug.

Highlights

Fragile X Syndrome (FXS) mice have decreased inhibition of acoustic startle responses under several auditory conditions including gaps in noise, large changes in sound source positions, and discrimination of target sounds from background noise compared to wildtype control mice.

FXS mice took longer to respond to startling sounds in most conditions suggesting additional impairments to pathways underlying when to respond.

FXS mouse models exhibit similar hearing impairments to humans with FXS.

The Smell Network: The Brain’s Architecture for Human Olfaction

Thu, 03 Sep 2020 00:00:00 GMT

Material below summarizes the article ;Functional Connectome Analyses Reveal the Human Olfactory Network Organization, published on May 29, 2020, in ;eNeuro ;and authored by T. Campbell Arnold, Yuqi You, Mingzhou Ding, Xi-Nian Zuo, Ivan de Araujo and Wen Li.

Highlights

Smell is borne out of a network of interconnected regions that are distributed across the brain.

The larger odor processing network consists of three smaller subnetworks, which serve different functional purposes.

Segregation of subnetworks helps to insulate the different functions and facilitates olfactory perception.

The Thalamic Nucleus Reuniens Orchestrates Prefrontal-Hippocampal Slow-Waves

Thu, 20 Feb 2020 00:00:00 GMT

Material below summarizes the article The Reuniens Nucleus of the Thalamus Has an Essential Role in Coordinating Slow-Wave Activity Between Neocortex and Hippocampus, published on September 23, 2019, in eNeuro and authored by Brandon E. Hauer, Silvia Pagliardini, and Clayton T. Dickson.

Highlights

Activity in the nucleus reuniens (RE) is related to slow sleep-related oscillations in two key episodic memory areas that it connects, the prefrontal cortex (PFC) and hippocampus (HPC).

Selectively inhibiting the RE robustly impairs slow-wave coordination between PFC and HPC.

Because slow-wave synchrony during sleep facilitates episodic memory, the RE is likely a key node in a PFC-HPC circuit promoting memory consolidation. Brandon Hauer ;

Transforming Vision Into Brainstem Commands for Gaze Direction

Thu, 26 Mar 2020 00:00:00 GMT

Material below summarizes the article Timing Determines Tuning: A Rapid Spatial Transformation in Superior Colliculus Neurons during Reactive Gaze Shifts, published on December 2, 2019, in eNeuro and authored by Morteza Sadeh, Amirsaman Sajad, Hongying Wang, Xiaogang Yan, and John Douglas Crawford.

Highlights

During gaze shifts of the eyes and head, the superior colliculus rapidly transforms a visual signal related to target direction into a motor command for gaze direction.
This visuomotor transition involves a relay of signals between cells with visual, visuomotor, and motor responses, each contributing to the overall transformation.
The difference between the visual input and motor output seems to arise from internal noise, correlating to behavioral errors that may reflect the health of the system.

Tracking Tau Oligomer-Induced Pathology in Single Neuronal Cells

Thu, 12 Mar 2020 00:00:00 GMT

Material below summarizes the article Introduction of Tau Oligomers into Cortical Neurons Alters Action Potential Dynamics and Disrupts Synaptic Transmission and Plasticity, published on September 25, 2019, in eNeuro and authored by Emily Hill, Thomas K. Karikari, Kevin G. Moffat, Magnus J. E. Richardson, and Mark J. Wall.

Highlights

Introduction of nanomolar concentrations of tau oligomers into cortical neurons causes significant changes in action potential kinetics in a 40-minute timeframe. ;

Introduction of tau oligomers into the presynaptic cell of synaptically connected pairs impairs basal synaptic transmission and enhances short-term depression. ;

Introduction of tau oligomers into the postsynaptic cell of synaptically connected pairs has no effect on basal synaptic transmission but markedly impairs synaptic plasticity (long-term potentiation).

Hippocampal CA2 Organizes CA1 Gamma Oscillations During Investigation of Novel Stimuli

Thu, 11 Jun 2020 00:00:00 GMT

Material below summarizes the article Hippocampal CA2 Organizes CA1 Slow and Fast γ Oscillations during Novel Social and Object Interaction, published on March 20, 2020, in eNeuro and authored by Logan Y. Brown, Georgia M. Alexander, Jesse Cushman, and Serena M. Dudek.

Highlights

CA2 contributes to slow gamma oscillations in CA1 during novel animal investigation and fast gamma during novel animal or novel object investigation.

Chemogenetic inhibition of CA2 neurons causes a decrease in slow gamma oscillations in the pyramidal cell layer of CA1 selectively during novel animal investigation.

Chemogenetic inhibition of CA2 causes a layer-specific decrease in CA1 gamma power reflective of CA2’;s anatomical inputs to CA1.

Claustrum Neurons Go To Unexpected Places. Here’s How to Find Them

Thu, 15 Oct 2020 00:00:00 GMT

Material below summarizes the article ;Identification of Mouse Claustral Neuron Types Based on Their Intrinsic Electrical Properties, ;published on June 11, 2020, in ;eNeuro ;and authored by Martin Graf, Aditya Nair, Kelly L.L. Wong, Yanxia Tang and George J. Augustine.

Highlights

Claustral neurons consist of at least three types of inhibitory interneurons and five types of excitatory projection neurons.

Claustral neurons that project to different brain areas differ in their electrical properties.

A user-friendly tool allows you to use our classification scheme to identify neurons in your own cell recordings.

Layer 5 of Neocortex Gives Rise to Diverse Corticofugal Pathways

Thu, 01 Oct 2020 00:00:00 GMT

Material below summarizes the article ;Layer 5 Corticofugal Projections from Diverse Cortical Areas: Variations on a Pattern of Thalamic and Extrathalamic Targets, ;published on July 22, 2020, in ;JNeurosci ;and authored by Judy A. Prasad, Briana J. Carroll and S. Murray Sherman

Highlights

Across cortical areas, layer 5 neurons exhibit a general pattern of targeting both thalamus and extra-thalamic regions, including brainstem motor centers.

Variations on the layer 5 efferent pattern depend on cortical area.

Layer 5 terminals also vary in size, depending on cortical area and subcortical target.

Enhancement of Early Experience Induces Correction of Miswired Neural Circuits

Thu, 29 Apr 2021 11:44:00 GMT

Material below summarizes the article Environmental Enrichment Partially Repairs Subcortical Mapping Errors in Ten-m3 Knock-Out Mice during an Early Critical Period, published on November 25, 2019, in eNeuro and authored by Peta Eggins, James Blok, Justin Petersen, Larissa Savvas, Lara Rogerson-Wood, Hannan Mansuri, Atomu Sawatari, and Catherine A. Leamey.

Highlights

Miswired projections from the retina to the visual thalamus in mice that lack the axon guidance molecule Ten-m3 were partially corrected by exposure to an enriched environment.

This effect was only seen if mice were enriched from birth. Enrichment commenced in adolescence or adulthood did not induce any effects, suggesting there is a critical period for the correction of miswired circuits.

The effect appeared to be due to the pruning of the most topographically inappropriate projections. ;

Synaptic Actions of an ALS-Associated Protein in the Giant Squid Synapse

Thu, 16 Jul 2020 00:00:00 GMT

Material below summarizes the article Synaptic Actions of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis-Associated G85R-SOD1 in the Squid Giant Synapse. ;published on March 18, 2020, in eNeuro ;and authored by Yuyu Song.

Highlights

ALS-associated G85R-SOD1 inhibits synaptic transmission in the squid giant synapse.

ALS-associated G85R-SOD1 increases Ca²⁺ concentration at the presynaptic terminal including the “Palm” region, which lacks Ca²⁺ channels, suggesting potential Ca²⁺reservoir in the presynaptic compartment.

Surprisingly, intermittent High Frequency Stimulation (iHFS), which normally depletes synaptic vesicles and causes synaptic depression, rescued synaptic function affected by G85R-SOD1 when applied every 30 minutes before and during G85R-SOD1 protein infusion.

Estrogen Benefits α-Synuclein Tetramerization and Motor Deficit in PD-Like Mice

Thu, 02 Jul 2020 00:00:00 GMT

Material below summarizes the article ;Female Sex and Brain-Selective Estrogen Benefit α-Synuclein Tetramerization and the PD-like Motor Syndrome in 3K Transgenic Mice, published on September 18, 2019, in ;JNeurosci ;and authored by Molly M. Rajsombath, Alice Y. Nam, Maria Ericsson, and Silke Nuber.

Highlights

Female sex preserves physiological a-synuclein (αS) tetramer formation vs. monomer clustering into vesicle and lipid-rich aggregates.

Increasing brain estrogen improves αS tetramer-to-monomer ratio, neurite fiber abundance and mitigates the Parkinson’;s disease-like motor deficits.

Female sex, and estrogen in particular, link to healthy αS tetramers and associated vesicle lipid changes suggest viable drug targets in Parkinson’;s disease.

QR2 Modulates Insular Cortex Redox to Enable Novel Taste Memory Formation

Thu, 18 Jun 2020 00:00:00 GMT

Material below summarizes the article Muscarinic-Dependent miR-182 and QR2 Expression Regulation in the Anterior Insula Enables Novel Taste Learning, published on March 26, 2020, in eNeuro and authored by Nathaniel L. Gould, Alina Elkobi, Efrat Edry, Jonathan Daume, and Kobi Rosenblum.

Highlights

QR2 is involved across species in the important process of forming new memories of unfamiliar tastes, enabling animals to learn about safe or harmful foodstuffs.

It does so by being removed from the anterior insular cortex (aIC), via the destabilization of its mRNA by miR182, which is itself dependent on local disinhibition of acetylcholine (ACh) release.

Removal of QR2 in the aIC reduces reactive oxygen species (ROS) there, affecting the potassium channel Kv2.1, which results in a stable long-term memory of a newly experienced taste, a process that deteriorates with age and disease.

How Cortical Interneurons Develop: Current and Future Research

Thu, 09 Jul 2020 00:00:00 GMT

This resource available to SfN members and FENS members. Please log in or link your FENs membership for access.

Inhibitory gamma-aminobutyric acid-containing (GABAergic) interneurons may comprise only around 20% of all cortical neurons, but they play important roles in cortical function. Not only do they control and orchestrate the activity of excitatory glutamatergic pyramidal cells of the neocortex, contributing to regulation of the overall activity levels of the brain, but they also mediate the precise processing of information in the different cortical networks.

Their importance is further manifested by increasing evidence that implicates them in brain disorders such as schizophrenia and epilepsy, as well as autism spectrum disorders.

Cortical GABAergic interneurons are highly heterogeneous, forming distinct functional classes with unique molecular, morphological, and electrophysiological characteristics. Recent transcriptomic analysis reveals that 20 molecularly distinct interneuron types exist in the mammalian neocortex. This remarkable heterogeneity is the outcome of a long developmental journey.

KCC2 on Axotomized Motoneurons Is Regulated Differently Than in Systems Previously Described

Thu, 23 Jan 2020 00:00:00 GMT

Material below summarizes the article ;Removal of the Potassium Chloride Co-Transporter From the Somatodendritic Membrane of Axotomized Motoneurons Is Independent of BDNF/TrkB Signaling but Is Controlled by Neuromuscular Innervation, ;published on September 20, 2019, in ;eNeuro ;and authored by Erica Tracey Akhter, Ronald W. Griffith, Arthur W. English, and Francisco J. Alvarez.

Highlights

Potassium chloride-cotransporter 2 (KCC2) mRNA and protein are downregulated within days of peripheral axotomy of spinal motoneurons.

KCC2 downregulation on axotomized motoneurons is not dependent on microgliosis or BDNF/TrkB signaling by difference to pathways reported previously in other disease and pathology associated with KCC2 dysregulation.

Extensive KCC2 depletion is tied to the regenerative state and recovers after motor axons reinnervate muscle, suggesting that GABA/glycinergic synapse action in the absence of KCC2 might contribute to axon regeneration.

Advice for Choosing the Right Reproducibility Tools

Thu, 28 May 2020 00:00:00 GMT

Many new tools have been created to address barriers to reproducibility, but how do you know which ones to use? This workshop breaks down workflows and tools to help you improve the reproducibility of your work, organizing workflows and tools into four themes: organization, documentation, automation of analysis, and dissemination. You’ll come away with ideas to implement in your lab as well as ideas for enhancing reproducibility more broadly.

Depletion of the Microbiome Changes How the Brain Responds to Opioids

Thu, 13 Aug 2020 00:00:00 GMT

Material below summarizes ;Depletion of the Microbiome Alters the Recruitment of Neuronal Ensembles of Oxycodone Intoxication and Withdrawal, published on April 27th, 2020, in ;eNeuro ;and authored by Sierra Simpson, Adam Kimbrough, Brent Boomhower, Rio Mclellan, Marcella Hughes, Kokila Shankar, Giordano de Guglielmo, Olivier George.

Substance use disorders are complex. Genetics, environment, and exposure to drugs all play a role in drug use. Recently, there has been evidence that another factor may play a role in substance use disorders: the gut-brain axis. The gut-brain axis encompasses the bidirectional communication pathways between the gut microbiome and the brain.

My most recent publication provides new evidence that alterations of the gut microbiome directly impact the neuronal ensembles recruited during both intoxication and withdrawal from oxycodone.

Exploring Individual Brain Connectomes With Topological Data Analysis in ADHD

Thu, 06 Aug 2020 00:00:00 GMT

Material below summarizes the article ;Exploring Individual Brain Connectomes With Topological Data Analysis in ADHD, ;published on ;April ;21, ;2020, in ;eNeuro ;and authored by Zeus Gracia-Tabuenca, ;Juan Carlos Díaz-Patiño, ;Isaac Arelio, and ;Sarael Alcauter.

Highlights

Topological Data Analysis (TDA) showed significant differences between ADHD and typically developing children.

Such differences are not dependent on how we segment the brain into multiple regions.

ADHD patients showed higher connectivity than controls. Particularly, two high-order or association networks showed the most increases in connectivity: the frontal lobe and the default mode network.

Monitoring Endogenous Growth Factor Translation in the Mouse Brain

Thu, 09 Apr 2020 00:00:00 GMT

Material below summarizes the article ;A New Mouse Line Reporting the Translation of Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor Using Green Fluorescent Protein, published on December 27, 2019, in ;eNeuro ;and authored by Erin Wosnitzka, Xinsheng Nan, Jeff Nan, Pedro Chacón-Fernández, Lothar Kussmaul, Michael Schuler, Bastian Hengerer, and Yves-Alain Barde.

Highlights

The direct coupling of the secretory protein brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) with green fluorescent protein (GFP) interferes with its biosynthesis and secretion.

Translation can nonetheless be monitored using constructs translating BDNF and GFP as separate proteins.

To avoid the artefacts resulting from cDNA overexpression, the strategy also involves a substitution of the genomic protein coding sequence, as previously reported with the cytoplasmic protein BRAF.

Community Forums on Foundations of Rigorous Neuroscience Research

Share your experiences and ideas about scientific cultural factors that can undermine rigorous research practices and identify solutions to these issues that can be employed by all members of the neuroscience community.

This Neuronline Community forum contains several discussion threads, and is open to members and non-members. Please feel free to post anonymously using the "Post as anonymous" option when submitting a thread or comment.

Brain Cells Important for Memory Inhibit Future Eating Behavior

Thu, 18 Apr 2019 00:00:00 GMT

Material below summarizes the article ;Postmeal Optogenetic Inhibition of Dorsal or Ventral Hippocampal Pyramidal Neurons Increases Future Intake, published on January 14, 2019, in ;eNeuro ;and authored by Reilly Hannapel, Janavi Ramesh, Amy Ross, Ryan T. LaLumiere, Aaron G. Roseberry, and Marise B. Parent.

You know that eating is vital for your survival, but have you ever thought about how your brain controls how much you eat, when you eat, and what you eat? This is not a trivial question because two-thirds of Americans are either overweight or obese, and overeating is a major cause of this epidemic.

To date, the scientific effort to understand how the brain controls eating has focused primarily on brain areas involved in hunger, fullness, and pleasure. In contrast, fewer studies have examined brain regions traditionally associated with other functions, such as memory. Yet, the memory of a recently eaten meal can serve as a powerful mechanism for controlling future eating behavior because it provides a record of recent intake that likely outlasts most physiological signals generated by a meal.

Malfunctioning Microglia Overeat Synapses in Obesity

Thu, 28 Feb 2019 00:00:00 GMT

Material below summarizes the article ;Microglia Play an Active Role in Obesity-Associated Cognitive Decline, published on October 10, 2018, in ;JNeurosci ;and authoredby Elise C. Cope, Elizabeth A. LaMarca, Patrick K. Monari, Lyra B. Olson, Susana Martinez, Anna D. Zych, Nicole J. Katchur and Elizabeth Gould.

The World Health Organization has labeled obesity a global epidemic with major public health implications.

In humans, obesity produces many well-known health challenges, but one lesser-known danger is it diminishes cognitive function. Obesity also predisposes individuals to develop serious cognitive disorders later in life, such as dementia and Alzheimer's disease.

Neuroimaging studies have shown reduced brain volume in obese humans, particularly in areas that support cognitive function. Yet, the cellular processes underlying the association between obesity and neuronal structure remain elusive.

Neuropil Signals Bring the Background to the Forefront

Wed, 01 May 2019 00:00:00 GMT

Material below summarizes the article ;Activity Patterns in the Neuropil of Striatal Cholinergic Interneurons in Freely Moving Mice Represent Their Collective Spiking Dynamics, published on January 4, 2019, in ;eNeuro ;and authored by Rotem Rehani, Yara Atamna, Lior Tiroshi, Wei-Hua Chiu, José de Jesús Aceves Buendía, Gabriela J. Martins, Gilad A. Jacobson, and Joshua A. Goldberg.

Live imaging of neuronal populations often reveals a background signal that engulfs the signal from individual neurons. Typically, this background signal is dismissed as uninformative or as an epiphenomenon. We imaged in freely moving mice acetylcholine-releasing (cholinergic) interneurons in the striatum that play a critical role in basal ganglia function and dysfunction in movement disorders. Importantly, these interneurons give rise to a profusely dense neuropil of fine neuronal processes that fill the striatum. Under these circumstances, our analysis revealed the background signal arising from the neuropil represents a “mean-field” readout of the collective recurrent activity of cholinergic interneurons. Thus, the neuropil signal functions as a physiological readout of the network state.

How to Combine Imaging Tools for Big Data Analysis

Tue, 14 May 2019 00:00:00 GMT

As scientists across fields continue to innovate functional, structural, and molecular imaging tools, the potential for using advanced strategies to analyze large physiological and anatomical datasets is rising dramatically. These technologies have the capacity to facilitate high-impact discoveries in basic and applied neuroscience, especially when combined in optimal ways.

This short course from Neuroscience 2018 will offer practical considerations for combining imaging tools that will help you select those that will most assist you in investigating a specific scientific question in your basic or translational research.

Solitary Confinement: Psychological and Neurobiological Insights Into Isolation

Thu, 29 Aug 2019 00:00:00 GMT

As social animals, our mental health depends on interactions with others, but millions suffer from chronic isolation globally, of which solitary confinement is the extreme example.

What are the effects of isolation on the brains and behavior of animals and people? What can animal studies reveal about the human brain, and how can findings influence how society and policymakers think of solitary confinement? What role do neuroscientists play in collecting data and sharing it with the public?

This panel discussion comprising a neurobiologist, a psychologist, a physician, a lawyer, and an individual held in solitary confinement for 29 years attempts to illuminate some of these questions.

Modeling Spinal Cord Development and Disease With Stem Cell-Derived Neurons

Tue, 09 Jul 2019 00:00:00 GMT

This an audio-only recording captured at Neuroscience 2018.

Stem cell-derived motor neurons provide a unique opportunity to study molecular processes controlling specification of neuronal identity and to probe pathological processes leading to neurodegeneration in patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

Hynek Wichterle, whose lab models and studies the development of the nervous system in vitro, will cover:

What it means to become a defined neuronal cell type in the central nervous system.
Findings that neuronal genes are controlled by distributed enhancers rather than super-enhancers.
Approaches to modeling neurodegenerative diseases including amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, a degenerative disease of spinal motor neurons.

The Features and Flaws of Studying Innate and Social Behavior in the Mouse

Tue, 30 Apr 2019 00:00:00 GMT

This an audio-only recording captured at Neuroscience 2018.

In the mouse, no complete innate behavioral circuit has been defined, and mechanistic understanding of the neurons that drive behavior remains largely unknown.

Lisa Stowers was one of the first postdocs to work with Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator Catherine Dulac on decoding the mouse olfactory system. In this Meet-the-Expert, she delves into why, 20 years after they began, where there’;s work left to do, and why innate behavior is not so easy to study as advertised.

Understanding Sex Differences in Rodent Models

Thu, 30 May 2019 00:00:00 GMT

Material below is adapted from the SfN Short Course ;How to Study Male and Female Rodents, by Jill B. Becker. Short Courses are daylong scientific trainings on emerging neuroscience topics and research techniques held the day before SfN’;s annual meeting.

Neurological diseases can show up at different times and with different symptoms for men and women. Yet neuroscience research, which often uses rodent models, does not always account for this diversity. Figuring out how sex differences —; such as sex hormones and estrous cycles —; affect research outcomes could help neuroscientists gain a greater understanding of the brain and related disorders.

Tools and Methods to Study the Blood Brain Barrier In Vivo

Tue, 09 Apr 2019 00:00:00 GMT

This an audio-only recording captured at Neuroscience 2018.

In this Meet the Expert, Chenghua Gu discusses new tools and methods her lab is using to study the blood brain barrier in vivo —; particularly the relationship between neurons and endothelial cells.

The blood brain barrier functions as the gatekeeper of the CNS and the barrier that prevents most drugs from passing from the bloodstream into the CNS. The Gu Lab seeks to investigate the fundamental cellular and molecular mechanisms that govern the formation and regulation of the blood brain barrier, as well as how neural and vascular systems work together to ensure proper brain function.

Increased understanding of the mechanisms and functional aspects of neurovascular interactions has potential to enable bidirectional manipulation of the blood brain barrier.

The Physiology of New and Old Neurons in the Dentate Gyrus

Tue, 23 Jul 2019 00:00:00 GMT

This an audio-only recording captured at Neuroscience 2018.

New neurons are continuously generated throughout life in the dentate gyrus. In her lab at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, Linda Overstreet-Wadiche studies the physiology of newly generated and existing cells in the dentate gyrus.

Win-Concurrent Sensory Cues Can Promote Riskier Choice

Thu, 21 Nov 2019 00:00:00 GMT

Material below summarizes the article ;Win-Concurrent Sensory Cues Can Promote Riskier Choice, published on November 28, 2018, in ;JNeurosci ;and authored by Mariya V. Cherkasova, Luke Clark, Jason J.S. Barton, Michael Schulzer, Mahsa Shafiee, Alan Kingstone, A. Jon Stoessl, and Catharine A. Winstanley.

Reward-related stimuli can potently influence behavior. For example, exposure to drug-paired cues can trigger drug seeking, use, and relapse in people suffering from addiction. What are the mechanisms whereby cue exposure might translate into harmful addictive behavior?

Cortical and Hippocampal Contributions Throughout Skill Learning in Mice

Thu, 30 Jul 2020 08:57:00 GMT

Material below summarizes the article ;Differential Involvement of Three Brain Regions during Mouse Skill Learning, ;published on August 1, 2019, in ;eNeuro ;and authored by Aldis P. Weible, Michael I. Posner and Christopher M. Niell. ;

Highlights

For mice learning a visual discrimination task, improvements in speed and accuracy were qualitatively similar to changes seen with human skill learning.
Effects of optogenetic suppression of anterior cingulate cortex, primary visual cortex, and dorsal hippocampus favor parallel, rather than serial, involvement of these structures in our mouse model of skill learning.
Suppression in each region lengthened correct-choice reaction times immediately following an error.

The Role of Innate Immunity in Neurological Disorders

Thu, 07 Mar 2019 00:00:00 GMT

Neuroinflammation is a major contributor to the pathophysiology of a variety of nervous system disorders.

The innate immune system is an important mechanism that engages microglia, leads to neuroinflammation, and underlies clinical problems ranging from neurodevelopmental disorders to neurodegenerative diseases. Understanding how microglia develop and act in the brain and the pathways by which they cause neuroinflammation is a primary goal for finding treatments for such diseases.

This Neurobiology of Disease Workshop, held at Neuroscience 2018, reveals ways in which neuroinflammation contributes to the pathophysiology of disorders of the central nervous system.

How Does the Medial Prefrontal Cortex Regulate the Strength of Memory Encoding?

Thu, 06 Jun 2019 00:00:00 GMT

Material below summarizes the article ;Prefrontal Theta Oscillations Promote Selective Encoding of Behaviorally Relevant Events, published on December 26, 2018, in ;eNeuro ;and authored by Justin Jarovi, Julien Volle, Xiaotian Yu, Lisa Guan, and Kaori Takehara-Nishiuchi.

Imagine if we remembered every detail of every event we’;ve ever experienced. Trying to find a particular memory would be like searching for a needle in a thousand haystacks.

Luckily, our brains don’;t store carbon copies of all the events we’;ve experienced. Rather, our brains tend to remember important events, and trivial ones are often forgotten. This ability to capture the most relevant information from everyday experiences without constantly learning unimportant details is vital to survival and mental health. But how do our brains decide which events are important enough to store as long-term memories?

What Happens to Neural Dynamics When a Rat Emits Ultrasonic Vocalizations?

Thu, 25 Jul 2019 00:00:00 GMT

Material below summarizes the article ;New Insights from 22-kHz Ultrasonic Vocalizations to Characterize Fear Responses: Relationship with Respiration and Brain Oscillatory Dynamics, published on April 8, 2019, in ;eNeuro ;and authored by Maryne Dupin, Samuel Garcia, Julie Boulanger-Bertolus, Nathalie Buonviso, and Anne-Marie Mouly.

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Highlights

Rats produce ultrasonic vocalizations when faced with a danger or an aversive event causing oscillatory activities supporting fear and behavior in the neural network to be modified.

Ultrasonic vocalizations are accompanied by a slowing of respiratory rhythm, and a loss of frequency coupling between breathing and brain slow oscillatory activity.

Ultrasonic vocalizations may result in a differential gating of information within the fear-related network, and modulate fear expression and memory.

Distinct Rules Govern Co-Modulation of Circuit Components by Two Modulators

Thu, 04 Apr 2019 00:00:00 GMT

Material below summarizes the article ;Distinct Co-Modulation Rules of Synapses and Voltage-Gated Currents Coordinate Interactions of Multiple Neuromodulators, published on October 3, 2018, in ;JNeurosci ;and authored ;by Xinping Li, Dirk Bucher, and Farzan Nadim.

All nervous systems adapt to changes in the environment and the internal state of the animal. Such flexibility is essential to producing behaviors in different contexts.

Much of this plasticity arises through the actions of neuromodulators, which actively reshape the activity and output of neuronal circuits by modifying neuronal excitability and synaptic transmission, typically by activating distinct G protein-coupled receptor-mediated pathways.

Are Fish Hippocampal-Like Networks Functionally Similar to Their Mammalian Counterparts?

Fri, 04 Oct 2019 00:00:00 GMT

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Highlights

This is the first ;in vitro ;biophysical characterization of hippocampal-like (dorsal lateral telencephalon) neurons in a teleost fish.

Neurons of the dorsal lateral telencephalon (DL) have a low-noise resting membrane potential (RMP) and rarely discharge in response to depolarizing input, suggesting DL computations use “sparse coding” neurons.

DL neurons also possess a dynamic spike threshold, supporting the hypothesis that the DL network can encode sequences of discrete events —; i.e., temporal sequences.

January 1981, Vol. 1, No. 1: Marina Picciotto on the History of JNeurosci

Thu, 10 Oct 2019 00:00:00 GMT

In this episode of History of SfN: 50^th Anniversary, Marina Picciotto, Charles B.G. Murphy Professor of Psychiatry at Yale University and the editor-in-chief of JNeurosci, notes how the journal has evolved in its nearly 40 years to mirror the changing ways in which research is shared.

Both Plastic and Robust: Eve Marder on Annual Meeting Programming

Thu, 10 Oct 2019 00:00:00 GMT

In this episode of ;History of SfN: 50^th ;Anniversary, Marder, Victor and Gwendolyn Beinfield Professor of Neuroscience at Brandeis University and a past president of the Society for Neuroscience, expands on this thought, sharing details from her time on SfN’;s Program Committee and about the evolution of annual meeting programs, as well as her award-winning research on motor neurons.

Hormones and the Developing Brain

Thu, 29 Aug 2019 00:00:00 GMT

Material below is adapted from the ;SfN ;Short Course ;How to Study the Origins of Sex Differences in Brain and Behavior, ;by ;Margaret M. McCarthy. ;Short Courses are daylong scientific trainings on emerging neuroscience topics and research techniques held the day before SfN’;s annual meeting.

Scientists have known for nearly 60 years that the hormones produced by the endocrine system influence fetal brain development and subsequent adult behavior. Yet only now are researchers beginning to gain a greater understanding of how neuroscience and those hormones interact in both male and female animals.

Data Science and Data Skills for Neuroscientists

Mon, 25 Nov 2019 00:00:00 GMT

Data science is fast-growing across the neuroscience field. In this Short Course, leading experts teach basic data skills that all neuroscientists should know and detail advanced data science methods that can be used in different circumstances.

Decision-Making in the Brain, the Lab, and Beyond

Tue, 29 Jan 2019 00:00:00 GMT

This an audio-only recording captured at Neuroscience 2018.

“Our ultimate goal is to understand how the brain controls behavior," says Anne Churchland, an associate professor at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. “We want to measure neural activity from as many neurons as possible,” she says, and “know as much about those neurons as we can.” In this Meet-the-Expert, she reflects on her career path, beginning as an undergrad through where she is today. She also shares some of the approaches and techniques her lab uses to illuminate the neural circuits underlying decision-making, such as two-photon and widefield imaging, and modeling to interpret neural data and make discoveries. Her lab examines behavior in humans and rodents and measures neural activity in rodents. She also explains how the work of her lab is made more powerful through the International Brain Laboratory, a team she helped launch comprising 21 experimental and theoretical neuroscientists working in London, New York, and Lisbon.

Development and Use of Genetically Encoded Voltage Indicators

Tue, 20 Aug 2019 00:00:00 GMT

Transmembrane voltage measurements are of primary importance in understanding neuronal function. As part of a growing community of researchers developing genetically encoded voltage indicators, Michael Lin, an associate professor of neurobiology and bioengineering at Stanford University, will provide a short history of the development of voltage sensors and explain their advantages and applications to brain imaging, using data from his lab. He will also discuss how his scientific interests put him at the interface of chemistry and neuroscience, and share some of the unique opportunities and challenges of being a tool developer in the biological sciences.

High Channel Count Electrophysiology, Neuropixels, and Beyond: Where Can Technology Take Us?

Thu, 21 Mar 2019 00:00:00 GMT

This an audio-only recording captured at Neuroscience 2018.

Neural recording technology has advanced significantly over the past sixty years, from Hubel and Wiesel’;s tungsten wires to tetrodes to Neuropixels, a low-cost, high-channel-count silicon probe.

In this Meet-the-Expert, Timothy Harris, who led the team that developed Neuropixels, discusses the technology that allows this new electrophysiological tool to contribute a long, dense array. He assesses alternative paths for high-channel-count recording sensors and the origin of limits for these devices. He also explains how they give researchers the ability to cover more tissue and how they can be combined with light sources, electrical stimulation, and photometry.

The Role of a Steroid Hormone in Neuroprotection and Inflammation

Tue, 10 Dec 2019 00:00:00 GMT

Material below is adapted from the SfN Short Course session ;Neuroinflammation and Neurosteroidogenesis: Reciprocal Modulation During Injury to the Adult Zebra Finch Brain, ;by Alyssa L. Pedersen, Jenna L. Brownrout, and Colin J. Saldanha. Short Courses are daylong scientific trainings on emerging neuroscience topics and research techniques held the day before the start of SfN’;s annual meeting.

Steroid hormones have a wide-ranging influence on brain development and behavior. One hormone in particular —; 17β-estradiol, also known as E2, which is made in the brain, ovaries, placenta, and fat tissue —; can influence male and female sexual behaviors in adult and juvenile mammals. Studies have also shown recently that E2 can protect neurons and neural circuits, as well as influence neuroplasticity, in healthy and injured brains.

Understanding the Types of Sex Differences in Neuroscience Research

Tue, 06 Aug 2019 00:00:00 GMT

Material below is adapted from the SfN Short Course session ;Sex-Dependent Mechanisms of Synaptic Modulation, ;by Catherine S. Woolley. Short Courses are daylong scientific trainings on emerging neuroscience topics and research techniques held the day before the start of SfN’;s annual meeting.

The push to consider the sex of animals used in neuroscience research is largely based on emerging evidence of differences between males and females. If researchers do not pay attention to possible sex differences, they risk missing underlying mechanisms of brain function, which could have implications for not only basic science but for translational research, too.

Transplantation of Healthy GABAergic Interneuron Progenitors in Mice with Epilepsy

Thu, 01 Aug 2019 00:00:00 GMT

Material below summarizes the article ;Restrained Dendritic Growth of Adult-born Granule Cells Innervated by Transplanted Fetal GABAergic Interneurons in Mice with Temporal Lobe Epilepsy, published on March 27, 2019, in ;eNeuro ;and authored by Jyoti Gupta, Mark Bromwich, Jake Radell, Muhammad N. Arshad, Selena Gonzalez, Bryan W. Luikart, Gloster B. Aaron, and Janice R. Naegele.

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Highlights

Transplanting healthy inhibitory cells into the dentate gyrus of the hippocampus in mice was shown to inhibit new granule cells generated after temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE).

The inhibitory connections formed by the transplanted cells are linked to changes in the structure of new granule cells, including smaller dendritic arbors.

Many of these adult-born cells become highly abnormal in TLE and contribute to the development of spontaneous seizures, so these structural changes may be important for reducing the excitability of new granule cells in TLE and offer hope to people who suffer spontaneous seizures and sometimes seek relief through brain surgery.

Computational Neuroscience: The Basics

Wed, 04 Sep 2019 00:00:00 GMT

TrainingSpace (TS) is an online hub that aims to make neuroscience educational materials more accessible to the global neuroscience community. As a hub, TS provides users with access to:

Multimedia educational content from courses, conference lectures, and laboratory exercises from some of the world’s leading neuroscience institutes and societies.
Study tracks to facilitate self-guided study.
Tutorials on tools and open science resources for neuroscience research.
A Q&A forum.
A neuroscience encyclopedia that provides users with access to over 1,000,000 publicly available datasets as well as links to literature references and scientific abstracts.

Topics currently included in TS include: general neuroscience, clinical neuroscience, computational neuroscience, neuroinformatics, computer science, data science, and open science. All courses and conference lectures in TS include a general description, topics covered, links to prerequisite courses if applicable, and links to software described in or required for the course, as well as links to the next lecture in the course or more advanced related courses. To learn more about TrainingSpace, visit: https://training.incf.org/

Changes in the Brain and Behavior During Adolescence

Thu, 19 Sep 2019 00:00:00 GMT

Material below is adapted from the ;SfN ;Short Course ;Adolescence and Reward: Making Sense of Neural and Behavioral Changes Amid the Chaos, ;by ;Deena M. Walker, Margaret R. Bell, Cecilia Flores, Joshua Gulley, Jari Willing, and Matthew J. Paul. ;Short Courses are daylong scientific trainings on emerging neuroscience topics and research techniques held the day before SfN’;s annual meeting.

Adolescence —; the transition from childhood to adulthood —; is a time of great change in the brain and behavior. In addition to sexual maturity, individuals also develop social and emotional skills during this time that will serve them as adults. Traditionally, researchers trying to understand this period have focused on a mismatch in the brain between increased sensitivity to rewarding stimuli and still-developing inhibitory control, which appears to lead to vulnerability to psychiatric disorders and risky behavior such as drug-seeking. What follows is a discussion of how hormones, the brain, and social factors affect adolescent development.

Sex Differences in the Brain: Balancing Sex in Preclinical Research

Tue, 02 Apr 2019 00:00:00 GMT

Sex is an important biological variable to account for in experiments. Watch this short course from Neuroscience 2018 to become familiar with the mechanisms underlying molecular, neural circuit, and behavioral differences between the sexes to help you better incorporate both sexes into your preclinical research.

Learn about fundamental concepts and hypotheses that have contributed to the current understanding of sex differences in the brain, as well as some of the latest discoveries related to the developmental origins of sex differences, gonadal steroid hormones, stress and vulnerability, reward and affective behaviors, and adolescence.

Speakers discuss sex differences in stress responses and how they may result in different disease pathologies, activation by single hormones of multiple physiological endpoints, latent sex and population differences, reorganization of reward circuity during adolescence, molecular genetic tools for investigating neural circuits that may contribute to sex differences seen at the behavioral level, and more.

Short Course: Introduction to Neuroinformatics

Tue, 15 Oct 2019 00:00:00 GMT

TrainingSpace (TS) is an online hub that aims to make neuroscience educational materials more accessible to the global neuroscience community. As a hub, TS provides users with access to:

Multimedia educational content from courses, conference lectures, and laboratory exercises from some of the world’;s leading neuroscience institutes and societies.
Study tracks to facilitate self-guided study.
Tutorials on tools and open science resources for neuroscience research.
A Q&A forum.
A neuroscience encyclopedia that provides users with access to over 1,000,000 publicly available datasets as well as links to literature references and scientific abstracts.

Topics currently included in TS include: general neuroscience, clinical neuroscience, computational neuroscience, neuroinformatics, computer science, data science, and open science.

All courses and conference lectures in TS include a general description, topics covered, links to prerequisite courses if applicable, and links to software described in or required for the course, as well as links to the next lecture in the course or more advanced related courses. To learn more about TrainingSpace, visit: https://training.incf.org

Rodent Models to Understand Sex Differences in Nicotine Use

Tue, 12 Nov 2019 00:00:00 GMT

Material below is adapted from the SfN Short Course ;Sex Differences and the Role of Ovarian Hormones in Modulating the Behavioral Effects of Nicotine in Rodent Models,by Rodolfo J. Flores, Bryan Cruz, Kevin P. Uribe, Luis M. Carcoba, and Laura E. O'Dell. Short Courses are daylong scientific trainings on emerging neuroscience topics and research techniques held the day before SfN's annual meeting.

Women are more likely than men to smoke and face negative health consequences from long-term tobacco use, and they are less likely to quit smoking. Researchers have begun to use to rodent models to better understand why these disparities exist.

Computational Neuroscience: Models and Theory

Tue, 05 Nov 2019 00:00:00 GMT

TrainingSpace (TS) is an online hub that aims to make neuroscience educational materials more accessible to the global neuroscience community. As a hub, TS provides users with access to:

Multimedia educational content from courses, conference lectures, and laboratory exercises from some of the world’;s leading neuroscience institutes and societies.
Study tracks to facilitate self-guided study.
Tutorials on tools and open science resources for neuroscience research.
A Q&A forum.
A neuroscience encyclopedia that provides users with access to over 1,000,000 publicly available datasets as well as links to literature references and scientific abstracts.

Topics currently included in TS include: general neuroscience, clinical neuroscience, computational neuroscience, neuroinformatics, computer science, data science, and open science.

Exploring Sex Differences in Rodent Behavior

Wed, 30 Oct 2019 00:00:00 GMT

Material below is adapted from the ;SfN ;Short Course session ;Sex Differences in Behavioral Strategies: Avoiding Interpretational Pitfalls, ;by Rebecca M. Shansky. Short Courses are daylong scientific trainings on emerging neuroscience topics and research techniques held the day before the start of ;SfN’;s annual meeting.

Although scientists have studied animal behavior in the lab for years, most of those studies have been in male rodents. The NIH recently mandated that researchers must include both sexes in their experiments, meaning the ways scientists have done and interpreted studies for years are now getting another look. This shift to widely including both male and female animals in experimentation has already and will likely continue to provide insight into the relationship between brain structure and function, and should help to inform translational work. ;

Sex Differences in Stress Responses

Tue, 02 Jul 2019 00:00:00 GMT

Material below is adapted from the SfN Short Course ;The Stress Response: Sex-Specific Neural Mechanisms, by Debra A. Bangasser and Kimberly R. Wiersielis. Short Courses are daylong scientific trainings on emerging neuroscience topics and research techniques held the day before SfN’;s annual meeting.

There are well-established differences in the rates of psychiatric disorders, such as major depression and post-traumatic stress disorder, which disproportionately affect women, and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and schizophrenia, which more often affect men. Stress can also increase the severity of these disorders. Researchers are investigating how sex differences in stress responses might influence the development and progression of psychiatric disorders. One possible driver of sex differences in responses is corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF), a hormone produced by the hypothalamus that activates the body’;s stress response.

Strength in Weakness: Slow Excitation Increases Temporal Precision of Sound Offset Encoding

Thu, 22 Aug 2019 00:00:00 GMT

Material below summarizes the article ;Slow NMDA-Mediated Excitation Accelerates Offset-Response Latencies Generated via a Post-Inhibitory Rebound Mechanism, published on May 31, 2019, in ;eNeuro ;and authored by Ezhilarasan Rajaram, Carina Kaltenbach, Matthew J. Fischl, Leander Mrowka, Olga Alexandrova, Benedikt Grothe, Matthias H. Hennig, and Conny Kopp-Scheinpflug.

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Highlights

In response to short sound stimuli ;in vivo, some superior paraolivary nucleus (SPN) neurons display only offset responses (OFF-only), while others display both onset and offset responses (ON-OFF).

The response to the end of the acoustic stimulus in these ON-OFF neurons occurs significantly faster in comparison to OFF-only neurons and is surprisingly invariant to changes in sound intensity.

The presence of strong inhibition and weak excitation in SPN neurons as identified by patch-clamp recordings was fed into a computational model, which indicated that NMDA receptors, though weakly expressed, play an important role in improving the temporal precision of the offset response.

Morphine Reduces Neuronal Connectivity by Releasing Iron From Storage

Thu, 27 May 2021 08:41:00 GMT

Material below summarizes the article ;Morphine-Induced Modulation of Endolysosomal Iron Mediates Upregulation of Ferritin Heavy Chain in Cortical Neurons, published on July 12, 2019, in ;eNeuro ;and authored by Bradley Nash, Kevin Tarn, Elena Irollo, Jared Luchetta, Lindsay Festa, Peter Halcrow, Gaurav Datta, Jonathan D. Geiger, and Olimpia Meucci.

Highlights

Morphine exposure increases free iron levels in neurons through the release of iron from intracellular storage sites called endolysosomes.
Increased free iron in the cytosol causes neurons to produce additional ferritin heavy chain, a protein involved in iron storage that can also reduce neuronal connectivity by inhibiting a homeostatic process.
This pathway may help to explain why opioid-using people infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) are more likely to develop learning and memory problems and suggests that these problems may be treatable by targeting neuronal iron stores.

Dialogues Between Neuroscience and Society: Human-Centered AI

Tue, 17 Dec 2019 00:00:00 GMT

Fei-Fei Li, codirector of the Stanford Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence, is both a scientist and an ethical leader advocating for artificial intelligence that makes improving human lives its goal.

In this 2019 Dialogues Between Neuroscience and Society lecture, Li discusses the transformative potential of AI for society in relation to the three parts of “human-centered AI”: that its development must be guided by concern for human impact, that it should augment, not replace, humans, and that it should be inspired by human intelligence. She also describes her research and collaborations in the field of computer vision.

Precise Spike Patterns in Cortical Neurons Encode for Touch Stimuli

Thu, 24 Jan 2019 00:00:00 GMT

Material below summarizes the article ;Refractoriness Accounts for Variable Spike Burst Responses in Somatosensory Cortex, published on August 14, 2017, in ;eNeuroand authored by Bartosz Teleńczuk, Richard Kempter, Gabriel Curio, and Alain Destexhe.

In the cortical area responsible for the processing of touch, the primary somatosensory cortex (S1) neurons can respond to touch stimuli with a very high precision. This is measured by repeating the same stimulus many times and recording neurons in S1 using a micro-electrode.

This was shown in macaque monkeys. Electrically stimulating the median nerve (which relays the touch information from the hand) at the wrist leads to the firing of high-frequency bursts of action potentials in the primary somatosensory cortex. Remarkably, this pattern of firing is repeatable with sub-millisecond precision.

The Shape of Brain Waves Recorded From the Scalp Differentiates Parkinson's Disease

Tue, 20 Jul 2021 11:42:00 GMT

Material below summarizes the article ;Characteristics of Waveform Shape in Parkinson’;s Disease Detected with Scalp Electroencephalography, published on May 20, 2019, in ;eNeuro ;and authored by Nicko Jackson, Scott R. Cole, Bradley Voytek, and Nicole C. Swann.

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Highlights

We show that the shape of brain waves recorded over sensorimotor regions in patients with Parkinson’;s disease (PD) was more asymmetric in patients off medication than in patients on medication and in healthy controls.

We detected these patterns using a safe, affordable, and accessible recording method: scalp EEG (electroencephalography, brain recordings taken from the scalp).

An objective measure of PD like this could be used in the future for diagnosis, monitoring of disease progression, or adjusting treatments.

Axon-Myelin Pathology Opens Therapeutic Window for Traumatic Brain Injury

Thu, 21 Feb 2019 00:00:00 GMT

Material below summarizes the article ;Experimental Traumatic Brain Injury Identifies Distinct Early and Late Phase Axonal Conduction Deficits of White Matter Pathophysiology, and Reveals Intervening Recovery, ;published on October 10, 2018, in ;JNeurosci ;and authored by Christina M. Marion, Kryslaine L. Radomski, Nathan P. Cramer, Zygmunt Galdzicki, and Regina C. Armstrong.

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a major global health concern. Patients most commonly experience mild TBI and recover, but some patients face a lifetime of persistent symptoms.

TBI can slow transmission of signals within neuronal circuits. This can contribute to diverse functional deficits from early through late stages after TBI. Experimental TBI models provide a means to assess changes in neuronal circuits that may underlie these functional deficits.

Cajal Cells Modulate Excitatory Neuronal Inputs in the Gut

Thu, 03 Jan 2019 00:00:00 GMT

Material below summarizes the article ;Excitatory Neuronal Responses of Ca2+ Transients in Interstitial Cells of Cajal in the Small Intestine, published on March 16, 2018, in ;eNeuro ;and authored by Salah A. Baker, Bernard T. Drumm, Karolina E. Skowronek, Benjamin E. Rembetski, Lauren E. Peri, Grant W. Hennig, Brian A. Perrino, and Kenton M. Sanders.

Interstitial cells of Cajal (ICC) regulate smooth muscle excitability and motility in the gastrointestinal (GI) tract.

ICC express the Ca²⁺ ;activated Cl^- ;channel Ano1 and depolarizing current resulting from its activation can be transduced to electrically coupled smooth muscle cells (SMCs) due to the presence of ;gap junctions. Thus, responses of ICC can affect SMC contractility and mediate complex motility patterns.

While the role of certain classes of ICC as intestinal ;pacemakers ;is well-established, other possible roles ascribed to ICC are controversial.

Who Does What in the Heterogeneous VTA? Spotlight on the Newly Identified NeuroD6 VTA Subtype

Thu, 05 Sep 2019 00:00:00 GMT

Material below summarizes the article ;The NeuroD6 Subtype of VTA Neurons Contributes to Psychostimulant Sensitization and Behavioral Reinforcement, published on May 16, 2019, in ;eNeuro ;and authored by Zisis Bimpisidis, Niclas König, Stefanos Stagkourakis, Vivien Zell, Bianca Vlcek, Sylvie Dumas, Bruno Giros, Christian Broberger, Thomas S. Hnasko, and Åsa Wallén-Mackenzie.

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Highlights

NeuroD6 VTA neurons constitute a modest ventral tegmental area (VTA) subpopulation, express Tyrosine hydroxylase (Th), and release dopamine in the nucleus accumbens upon optogenetic activation in the VTA.

Some of the NeuroD6 neurons co-express Th with the gene encoding Vesicular glutamate transporter 2 (VGLUT2), and optogenetic VTA activation causes glutamatergic post-synaptic currents in the nucleus accumbens.

Conditional knockout of the Vesicular monoamine transporter 2 (VMAT2) selectively in NeuroD6-Cre-neurons in mice resulted in behavioral hyperlocomotion above control levels in response to psychostimulants, while NeuroD6-Cre mice showed significant approach behavior in a real-time place preference setup upon optogenetic activation in the VTA.

Studying Sex Differences in the Brain

Wed, 19 Jun 2019 00:00:00 GMT

Material below is adapted from the SfN Short Course ;Genetic and Neural Circuit Approaches to Studying Sex Differences, by Jessica Tollkuhn. Short Courses are daylong scientific trainings on emerging neuroscience topics and research techniques held the day before SfN’;s annual meeting.

Differences between the male and female brain largely arise due to the influence of sex chromosomes and gonadal hormones and can influence behaviors such as mating, aggression, and parenting. By understanding the contributions these factors make to differences in neural circuitry and corresponding behavior, researchers can begin to identify the causes for distinctions between the sexes they’;ve seen in their own results.

Synapses in the Human Transentorhinal Cortex

Thu, 26 Sep 2019 12:19:00 GMT

Material below summarizes the article ;3D Electron Microscopy Study of Synaptic Organization of the Normal Human Transentorhinal Cortex and Its Possible Alterations in Alzheimer’;s Disease, published on June 19, 2019, in ;eNeuro ;and authored by M. Domínguez-Álvaro, M. Montero-Crespo, L. Blazquez-Llorca, J. DeFelipe, and L. Alonso-Nanclares.

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Highlights

The majority of synapses are excitatory on spine heads (55%) and have a small disk shape. Nevertheless, a relatively large proportion of excitatory synapses are established on dendritic shafts (37%).

Excitatory and inhibitory synapses show different preferences for their postsynaptic targets (spines or dendritic shafts).

In Alzheimer’;s disease (AD), morphological synaptic changes and a reduction in the number of synapses targeting spine heads occur.

The Hippocampus and Thalamus Work Together to Regulate Dopamine Neuron Activity

Thu, 18 Jul 2019 00:00:00 GMT

Material below summarizes the article ;Convergent Inputs from the Hippocampus and Thalamus to the Nucleus Accumbens Regulate Dopamine Neuron Activity, published on December 12, 2018, in ;JNeurosci ;and authored by Stephanie M. Perez and Daniel J. Lodge.

One of the main types of symptoms experienced by people with schizophrenia are positive symptoms, which include hallucinations, delusions, and paranoia. This psychosis is thought to be mediated by aberrant dopamine signaling, but the cause of this aberrant signaling has not been conclusively demonstrated.

We previously investigated the afferent regulation of the dopamine system and identified a glutamatergic pathway from the ventral hippocampus to the nucleus accumbens (NAc) crucial to the regulation of dopamine neurons in the ventral tegmental area (VTA). Given that individuals with schizophrenia exhibit hyperactivity in hippocampal subfields that is correlated with the severity of positive symptoms, it is likely the dopamine dysfunction in schizophrenia is driven by aberrant ventral hippocampal activity.

Dynamic Cortical Neural Activity Predicts Self-Guided Working Memory in Rats

Wed, 03 Jul 2019 00:00:00 GMT

Material below summarizes the article ;The Rat Medial Prefrontal Cortex Exhibits Flexible Neural Activity States During the Performance of an Odor Span Task, published on March 4, 2019, in ;eNeuro ;and authored by Emanuela De Falco, Lei An, Ninglei Sun, Andrew J. Roebuck, Quentin Greba, Christopher C. Lapish, and John G. Howland.

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Highlights

Abrupt changes in neural activity patterns observed while rats performed a self-guided working memory task signaled the transition between task epochs and predicted performance on the task.

Observed neural correlates of a “go” signal might be critical for signaling the transition from “explore” to “exploit” in foraging behaviors.

Ongoing research will investigate whether the diverse patterns of neural activity observed are altered in brain disorders such as schizophrenia.

Fire Together, Wire Together: Carla Shatz on Scientific Breakthroughs

Thu, 10 Oct 2019 00:00:00 GMT

History of SfN: 50^th ;Anniversary ;is a limited series podcast highlighting stories from the history of the Society for Neuroscience, recounting groundbreaking moments in the growth of the Society from the perspectives of current, past, and future leaders.

Shatz, known for her discovery of the “fire together, wire together” phenomenon, offers insight into her research to understand how circuits change during developmental critical periods. She discusses both the advent of neuroscience as a field and the history of SfN’;s annual meeting, including its 25^th ;anniversary meeting.

Experimentally Informed Simulations Help Uncover Computations in the Basolateral Amygdala

Thu, 16 May 2019 00:00:00 GMT

Material below summarizes the article ;Gamma Oscillations in the Basolateral Amygdala: Biophysical Mechanisms and Computational Consequences, published in ;eNeuro ;on January 11, 2019, and authored by Feng Feng, Drew B. Headley, Alon Amir, Vasiliki Kanta, Ziao Chen, Denis Paré, and Satish Nair.

In the temporal lobe, nestled underneath the cortex, is an almond-shaped capsule of neurons known as the basolateral amygdala (BL). It has long been considered central to the production of learned emotional behaviors. For instance, when you avoid a dark alley or run into a store to get a refreshing bottle of water on a hot day, your BL is likely coordinating with a wide variety of brain regions to enable these behaviors.

How Neuroscience Began: Bernice Grafstein on the Disciplines That Formed a New Field

Thu, 10 Oct 2019 00:00:00 GMT

In this episode of History of SfN: 50^th Anniversary, Bernice Grafstein, Vincent and Brooke Astor Distinguished Professor in Neuroscience at Cornell University, Trustee and Vice-President of the Grass Foundation —; and the first female president of the Society for Neuroscience —; recounts how the formation of the Society for Neuroscience brought together neuroscientists of diverse backgrounds.

Episode 1: Setting the Foundations

Fri, 26 Feb 2021 09:05:00 GMT

The Society for Neuroscience’;s (SfN’;s) Foundations of Rigorous Neuroscience Research (FRN) program aims to inform and empower neuroscientists at all career stages to enhance the rigor and reproducibility of their research. Begin this series with Oswald Steward and Lique Coolen as they cover the genesis of the FRN program, the objectives of the podcast series, and the resources that you can access to enhance rigorous research practices in neuroscience.

Episode 2: Battling Bias in the Pursuit of Objectivity

Fri, 26 Feb 2021 09:10:00 GMT

When developing a study, there are many sources of biases that can affect experimentation or interpretation of results. Join Christie Fowler, Olavo Amaral, and Kip Ludwig as they discuss the various considerations neuroscientists must face to conduct research while minimizing bias and maximizing objectivity.

Episode 4: Creating a Culture of Rigor

Fri, 26 Feb 2021 09:20:00 GMT

How can researchers shape modern scientific culture to incentivize more sustainable, rigorous science? Hear from Michael Lehman, Ghazaleh Sadri-Vakili, and Tanita Casci as they cover the critical importance of incentivizing rigorous research today, as well as ways you can advance rigorous research practices at any level in your career to invigorate the field.

Episode 5: Rewarding Rigorous Science

Fri, 26 Feb 2021 09:29:00 GMT

Although there are many hurdles to enhancing rigor in neuroscience, one fact is clear: implementing rigorous research practices today will enhance the credibility of the field tomorrow. Wrap up this series with Emily Sena, Eric Nestler, and Walter Koroshetz as they discuss the rewards to conducting rigorous research, how institutions, journals, and funders can step up to enhance rigor across the field, and ways for individuals to shift the needle in tackling this collective challenge.

Episode 3: Dealing with Data

Fri, 26 Feb 2021 09:15:00 GMT

Join neuroscientists Letisha Wyatt, Jane Roskams, and Maryann Martone as they delve into the challenges neuroscience has faced regarding data storage, management, and sharing. They discuss the historical transition from analog to digital data, the complexities of neuroscience data, and paths forward to foster more sound data stewardship for the larger scientific community.

Machine Learning I: Intro Lecture

This lecture is part of the Neuromatch Academy (NMA), a massive, interactive online summer school held in 2020 that provided participants with experiences spanning from hands-on modeling experience to meta-science interpretation skills across just about everything that could reasonably be included in the label "computational neuroscience".

This lecture provides an overview of generalized linear models (GLM) and contains links to 2 tutorials, lecture/tutorial slides, suggested reading list, and 3 recorded question and answer sessions.

Tutorial 2: Classifiers and Regularizers

This tutorial covers the implementation of logistic regression, a special case of GLMs used to model binary outcomes. Oftentimes the variable you would like to predict takes only one of two possible values. Left or right? Awake or asleep? Car or bus? In this tutorial, we will decode a mouse's left/right decisions from spike train data.

Machine Learning II: Outro Lecture

This lecture further develops the concepts introduced in ;Machine Learning I.

Publishing and Presentation

Data Management and Record Keeping

Grant Writing

Experimental Design

Mapping the Brain: From Cells and Circuits to Function

Mon, 11 Nov 2024 15:39:00 GMT

This lecture from Rui Costa, DVM, PhD, discusses the Allen Institute's foundational efforts to map diverse cell types and circuits in the mammalian brain using approaches such as single-cell and spatial transcriptomics, morphological and physiological analyses, and advanced light and electron microscopy.

Imaging Brain Chemistry in Brain Health and Disease: From Neurotransmitters to Neuropeptides

Mon, 11 Nov 2024 15:39:00 GMT

Neurons communicate through chemical neurotransmitter signals to modulate the activity of larger neuronal networks.

What Does a Large Language Model Know?

Mon, 11 Nov 2024 15:39:00 GMT

Recent developments in machine intelligence suggest the prospect of minds that can be artificially constructed.

Unveiling the Nexus of Innate Immunity and Alzheimer’s Disease: Insights Into Pathogenesis and Therapeutic Prospects

Mon, 11 Nov 2024 15:39:00 GMT

Innate immunity plays a pivotal role in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease (AD). By delineating the intricate interplay between genetic predisposition, environmental influences such as aging, and immune function, Nancy Y. Ip, PhD, aims to unravel the underpinnings of neurodegeneration and AD pathogenesis in this lecture.

Section 3: Publication and Data Management

Mon, 01 Jun 2015 12:39:00 GMT

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Section 4: Brain Data: Ethical and Legal Requirements

Mon, 01 Jun 2015 12:39:00 GMT

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Section 1: The Many Facets of Data

Mon, 01 Jun 2015 12:39:00 GMT

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Section 2: Consortiums and Management of Data

Mon, 01 Jun 2015 12:39:00 GMT

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Pose Estimation for Lab Animals Using Deep Learning

In this video, Talmo Pereira describes the use of pose estimation instead of classical tracking to quantify animal behavior from videos.

Signed Boundary Distance Prediction to Reconstruct Synapses in EM

In this video, Larissa Heinrich explains her work in connectomics, reconstructing synapses from large electron microscopy volumes (in this case, the entire drosophila brain) using convolutional neural networks.

Learning to Predict Fly Behavior

In this video, Eyrún Eyjólfsdóttir describes a method for predicting the behavior of fruit flies.

Mining Morphological Features of Neurons with PRISM

In this video, Beth Cimini talks about the use of machine learning for morphological profiling, extracting many features of the cells to build up its “fingerprint.”

The Fundamentals of Machine Learning

In this Machine Learning virtual conference session, Sanjoy Dasgupta gives an introduction to machine learning. He goes through a detailed prediction problem and surveys the landscape of the field.

Glia: A Historical Perspective

In this video, Helmut Kettenmann talks about the state of neuroscience research at the beginning of the 20th century, and describes the discovery of microglia by Pio del Rio-Hortega.

Physiology of Microglia

In this video, Amanda Sierra talks about the roles of microglia in brain physiology, including constant synapse monitoring and contribution to adult neurogenesis, to highlight the important functions of microglia in the healthy adult brain.

Microglia in Development

In this video, Sonia Garel discusses the emerging roles of microglia in brain development, going through the major functions of microglia in the embryonic and early postnatal brain.

Pío del Río Hortega: Notes from His Grandnephew

In this video, Juan del Rio Hortega, the grandnephew of Pio del Rio Hortega, describes the historical context in which microglia were first discovered, through readings of the original correspondence between Pio del Rio Hortega and several scientists, including Ramon y Cajal.

Psychiatric Disorders and Microglia

In this video, Susanne Wolf discusses how microglia contribute to neurodevelopmental and neuropsychiatric disorder, such as autism spectrum disorders and schizophrenia, highlighting the relevance of mouse models for studying these disorders.

Microglia in Neurodegeneration

In this video, Diego Gomez-Nicola talks about the crucial role of microglia in neurodegenerative disorders, highlighting the implication of microglial dysfunction in Alzheimer’;s disease.

Models in Microglial Research

In this video, Francesca Peri describes the experimental models currently available to study microglia, with special attention to different animal models, ant to the recent advances in “in vitro” models, such as induced-pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) derived microglia.

Tools to Study Microglia

In this video, Daniel Erny talks about novel tools and approaches to study microglial functions, describing pharmacological, genetic tools, and latest advances in transcriptomics, also highlighting the heterogeneity of microglia.

Circuit Mapping/Networks Journal Articles

Read the latest research on mapping circuits and networks.

Neuroimaging Journal Articles

Read the latest research on the use of neuroimaging to interrogate neural circuits.

Neural Connectivity and Connectomics Journal Articles

Read the latest research on neuronal connectivity and connectomics.

Voltage-sensitive Dye Imaging and Chemogenetics Journal Articles

Read the latest research on neuronal voltage-sensitive dye imaging ;and Chemogenetics.

Targeted DamID as a Tool for Studying Cell-Specific Transcription and Neural Epigenetics

In this video, Tony Southall explains how the targeted DamID technique can be used to study gene expression and epigenetics in the developing and adult nervous systems.

Characterizing Neuronal Cell Types by Single-Nucleus Methylome Sequencing

In this video, Zhuzhu Zhang explains how to use single-nucleus methylome sequencing to profile neuronal cell types.

Extracellular Vesicles: Intercellular Signaling via RNA Transfer in the Brain

In this video, Christie Fowler discusses intercellular signaling occurring through extracellular vesicles to transfer RNA within the brain, between cell populations.

Deciphering the Neural Epitranscriptome: The Role of m6A RNA Modification in Neurodevelopment

In this video, Ki-Jun Yoon discusses functional distribution of chemical modifications on RNA —; or epitranscriptomic modifications —; during the development of the nervous system.

How to Build a Synapse: Molecules that Instruct Neuron Form and Function

Many largescale efforts are aimed at unraveling the cellular, molecular, and computational properties that underlie brain function. Yet, to date, many important insights into these problems have come from a humble part of the central nervous system – the retina.

Development of Direction Selectivity Maps

In mice, the detection of motion begins in the retina, yet little is known about how the neural circuit that underlies this computation develops. ;

Spinal Cord Biology at Single Cell Resolution

Single cell sequencing technology has the potential to revolutionize our understanding of cell types and the transcriptional landscapes underlying cellular function. Here, we present two major advances in the application of single cell approaches to spinal cord biology.

The Role of Neuronal Glycerolipid Metabolism in Regulating Axon Regeneration

In this video, Kai Liu discusses how directing neuronal lipid metabolism away from triglyceride synthesis and toward phospholipids synthesis may promote axon regeneration in adult nervous system.

Neural Mechanisms Underlying Age-Related Decline in Circadian Rhythm

Thu, 21 Apr 2016 00:00:00 GMT

Material below summarizes the article ;Age-Related Changes in the Circadian System Unmasked by Constant Conditions, ;published on August 27, 2015, in ;eNeuro ;and authored by Takahiro J. Nakamura, Wataru Nakamura, Isao T. Tokuda, Takahiro Ishikawa, Takashi Kudo, Christopher S. Colwell, and Gene D. Block.

Circadian rhythms are altered by the aging process in humans and many other organisms. In people, we see this most commonly with changes in our sleep/wake cycle, with many elderly experiencing a shift to earlier bedtimes and difficulty staying asleep throughout the night. The circadian system governs the temporal patterns of processes throughout our body, and aging impacts the daily patterning of behavior, physiology, and even gene expression. In our work, we have been exploring how aging impacts the core circadian clock that drives these daily rhythms.

Call to Action: Your Ideas for Shaping a Culture That Supports Rigorous Research

Fri, 13 Sep 2019 00:00:00 GMT

The ;Foundations of Rigorous Neuroscience Research (FRN) program ;will engage members of the neuroscience community to raise awareness of barriers and solutions related to practicing rigorous research and create new resources that will empower neuroscientists at all career stages to implement these practices in their work.

Enhancing a Scientific Culture That Rewards Scientific Rigor

Wed, 25 Aug 2021 11:14:00 GMT

Advances in science depend on research that generates reliable and reproducible results. Over the past decade, however, a surprising number of reports have cited failures to replicate critical findings, some of which could serve as the foundation for future human therapies.

Lack of reproducibility has motivated funding agencies, journals, and institutions to re-examine research practices in order to improve scientific rigor —; and positive steps have been taken. For example, funding agencies now include scientific rigor as a review criterion for grant proposals. Publishers have brought back Materials and Methods sections, requiring authors to be thorough and informative and to specify requirements for blinding and statistical analyses. Additionally, institutions and professional societies, including SfN, have developed ;dedicated training ;on the technicalities of conducting rigorous research.

How Models Clarify Our Understanding of the Brain

Tue, 25 Jan 2022 00:00:00 GMT

I have always been astonished by how quickly we learn things, and how long we remember them. For example, after seeing an exciting movie, in which individual scenes flash by quickly, we can go home to tell our family and friends lots of details about it.

I call this problem the stability-plasticity dilemma. How do we learn things quickly but remember them for a long time? Why does a fast-learning rate not force a fast-forgetting rate? Answering this question illustrates the power of neural models.

#1 Interoception Primes Emotional Processing: Multimodal Evidence from Neurodegeneration

Tue, 22 Mar 2022 14:40:00 GMT

Authors Paula Celeste Salamone and Agustín Ibáñez discuss their paper, “Interoception Primes Emotional Processing: Multimodal Evidence from Neurodegeneration,” published in Vol. 41, Issue 19 of the Journal of Neuroscience, with Editor-in-Chief Marina Picciotto.

Find the SfN Journals: In Conversation webinar series on-demand here.

On Neuro Current, we delve into the stories and conversations surrounding research published in the journals of the Society for Neuroscience. Through its publications, ;JNeurosci, ;eNeuro, and ;the History of Neuroscience in Autobiography, SfN promotes discussion, debate, and reflection on the nature of scientific discovery, to advance the understanding of the brain and the nervous system. ;

Find out more about SfN ;and connect with us on ;Twitter, ;Instagram, and ;LinkedIn.

#2 Fallacies in Neuroscience

Tue, 22 Mar 2022 14:40:00 GMT

In this episode, Karl Herrup and Christophe Bernard explore how logical fallacies and unseen bias limit scientific advancement in their fields of Alzheimer's disease and epilepsy.

#3 Identification of Novel Cross-Talk between the Neuroendocrine and Autonomic Stress Axes Controlling Blood Pressure

Tue, 19 Apr 2022 14:40:00 GMT

Khalid Elsaafien and Eric Krause discuss their paper, “Identification of Novel Cross-Talk between the Neuroendocrine and Autonomic Stress Axes Controlling Blood Pressure” with JNeurosci Editor-in-Chief Marina Picciotto.

#6 Distinct Medial Orbitofrontal–Striatal Circuits Support Dissociable Component Processes of Risk/Reward Decision-Making

Tue, 19 Jul 2022 14:40:00 GMT

Nicole Jenni and Stan Floresco discuss their paper, “Distinct Medial Orbitofrontal–Striatal Circuits Support Dissociable Component Processes of Risk/Reward Decision-Making,” published in Vol. 42, Issue 13 of JNeurosci, with reviewing editor Kate Wassum. 

#5 A Female-Specific Role for Calcitonin Gene-Related Peptide (CGRP) in Rodent Pain Models

Tue, 21 Jun 2022 14:40:00 GMT

Candler Paige and Ted Price discuss their paper, “A Female-Specific Role for Calcitonin Gene-Related Peptide (CGRP) in Rodent Pain Models,” published in Vol. 42, Issue 10 of JNeurosci, with Editor-in-Chief Marina Picciotto.

#7 Neuron Replating, a Powerful and Versatile Approach To Study Early Aspects of Neuron Differentiation

Tue, 23 Aug 2022 14:40:00 GMT

Felix Schneider discusses his paper, ;“Neuron Replating, a Powerful and Versatile Approach to Study Early Aspects of Neuron Differentiation,” ;published in Vol. 8, Issue 3 of eNeuro, with Editor-in-Chief Christophe Bernard. 

#8 Optoception: Perception of Optogenetic Brain Perturbations

Tue, 23 Aug 2022 14:40:00 GMT

#4 Input-independent Homeostasis of Developing Thalamocortical Activity

Tue, 24 May 2022 14:40:00 GMT

Matthew Colonnese discusses his paper, ;“Input-Independent Homeostasis of Developing Thalamocortical Activity,” ;published in Vol. 8, Issue 3 of eNeuro, with Editor-in-Chief Christophe Bernard. 

Hosted by:

Christophe Bernard ;

#14 The History of Neuroscience in Autobiography: Science as a Human Endeavor

Tue, 28 Feb 2023 14:42:00 GMT

Larry Squire and Tom Albright, coeditors of The History of Neuroscience in Autobiography book series, talk about their work collecting the personal narratives from researchers who have contributed to the field of neuroscience, and why this collection of stories is an important component of the historical record.

#13 Encore Interview: Marina Picciotto on the History of JNeurosci

Tue, 28 Feb 2023 14:42:00 GMT

In 2019, SfN published the ;History of Society for Neuroscience: 50th Anniversary ;podcast series. One guest was Dr. Marina Picciotto, who just finished her 7-year tenure as Editor-in-Chief at JNeurosci and is now the President-Elect of SfN. We hope you’;ll enjoy this lightly edited version of her interview from 2019 as she reflects on the launch, growth, and future of JNeurosci.

#23 Writing a Computational Neuroscience Manuscript for The Journal of Neuroscience

Tue, 07 Nov 2023 14:42:00 GMT

JNeurosci Reviewing Editors Bruno Averbeck and Anne-Marie Oswald discuss best practices for writing computational neuroscience papers for The Journal of Neuroscience. They offer tips and strategies for how to organize the paper and clearly present technical material to the broad neuroscience community that is the readership of the journal.

#17 Total Sleep Deprivation Increases Brain Age Prediction Reversibly in Multisite Samples of Young Healthy Adults

Tue, 20 Jun 2023 14:42:00 GMT

Congying Chu and David Elmenhorst discuss their paper, “Total Sleep Deprivation Increases Brain Age Prediction Reversibly in Multisite Samples of Young Healthy Adults,” published in Vol. 43, Issue 12 of JNeurosci, with Editor-in-Chief Sabine Kastner.

#22 JNeurosci Spotlight: Temporal Dynamics of Neural Responses in Human Visual Cortex

Tue, 07 Nov 2023 14:42:00 GMT

Iris Groen discussed her paper, “Temporal Dynamics of Neural Responses in Human Visual Cortex,” published in Vol. 42, Issue 40 of JNeurosci, with Megan Sansevere from SfN’;s Journals’; staff. 

#29 JNeurosci Spotlight: Subgenual and Hippocampal Pathways in Amygdala Are Set to Balance Affect and Context Processing

Tue, 28 May 2024 14:42:00 GMT

Mary Kate Joyce discusses her paper, “Subgenual and Hippocampal Pathways in Amygdala Are Set to Balance Affect and Context Processing,” published in Vol. 43, Issue 17 of JNeurosci in 2023, with Megan Sansevere from SfN’;s Journals’; staff.

#16 DrosoPHILA: A Partnership Between Scientists and Teachers That Begins in the Lab and Continues Into City Schools

Tue, 23 May 2023 14:42:00 GMT

Kaitlin Laws and Greg Bashaw discuss their paper, “DrosoPHILA: A Partnership between Scientists and Teachers That Begins in the Lab and Continues into City Schools,” published in Vol. 10, Issue 2 of eNeuro, with BrainFacts editor Kelley Remole. 

#28 JNeurosci Spotlight: Differential Patterns of Synaptic Plasticity in the Nucleus Accumbens Caused by Continuous and Interrupted Morphine Exposure

Tue, 28 May 2024 14:42:00 GMT

Emilia Lefevre discusses her paper, “Differential Patterns of Synaptic Plasticity in the Nucleus Accumbens Caused by Continuous and Interrupted Morphine Exposure,” published in Vol. 43, Issue 2 of JNeurosci in 2023, with Megan Sansevere from SfN’;s Journals’; staff.

#15 Endogenous Circadian Clock Machinery in Cortical NG2-Glia Regulates Cellular Proliferation

Tue, 25 Apr 2023 14:42:00 GMT

Terry Dean and Vittorio Gallo discuss their paper, “Endogenous Circadian Clock Machinery in Cortical NG2-Glia Regulates Cellular Proliferation,” published in Vol. 9, Issue 5 of eNeuro, with Editor-in-Chief Cristophe Bernard. 

#19 Reactivation of Early-Life Stress-Sensitive Neuronal Ensembles Contributes to Lifelong Stress Hypersensitivity

Tue, 22 Aug 2023 14:42:00 GMT

Laia Fibla and John Spencer discuss their paper, “Language exposure and brain myelination in early development”, published in Vol. 43, Issue 23 of JNeurosci, with Reviewing Editor Elana Zion-Golumbic. 

#34 JNeurosci Spotlight: Spontaneous Alpha Brain Dynamics Track the Episodic “When”

Tue, 15 Oct 2024 14:42:00 GMT

Leila Azizi, Ignacio Polti and Virginie van Wassenhove discuss their paper, “Spontaneous Alpha Brain Dynamics Track the Episodic “When”,” published in Vol. 43, Issue 43 of JNeurosci in 2023, with Megan Sansevere from SfN’;s Journals’; staff.

#12 JNeurosci Transition: A Conversation Between Two Editors-in-Chief

Tue, 14 Feb 2023 14:42:00 GMT

Marina Picciotto (outgoing JNeurosci Editor-in-Chief and SfN President-Elect) and Sabine Kastner (incoming JNeurosci Editor-in-Chief) discuss their careers along with the history and future of The Journal of Neuroscience. Check out the ;Reviewer Mentor Program.

#24 Progressive Peer Review: A Conversation Between Two Editors-in-Chief

Tue, 30 Apr 2024 14:42:00 GMT

In this episode, the Editors-in-Chief of the Journal of Neuroscience and eNeuro, Sabine Kastner and Christophe Bernard, discuss the importance of peer review and the progressive review models they have worked to implement at their respective journals. Both agree that, while imperfect, peer review is still a valuable part of the research process. Listen to their conversation to learn how their personal experiences as authors and reviewers shaped their decisions as editors. 

#18 Language Exposure and Brain Myelination in Early Development

Tue, 22 Aug 2023 14:42:00 GMT

#25 Neuronal Population Encoding of Identity in Primate Prefrontal Cortex

Tue, 28 May 2024 14:42:00 GMT

Keshov Sharma and Lizabeth Romanski discuss their paper, “Neuronal Population Encoding of Identity in Primate Prefrontal Cortex,” published in Vol. 44, Issue 6 of JNeurosci, with Editor-in-Chief Cabine Kastner.

#32 JNeurosci Spotlight: Interchangeable Role of Motor Cortex and Reafference for the Stable Execution of an Orofacial Action

Tue, 24 Sep 2024 14:42:00 GMT

Michaël Elbaz discusses his paper, “Interchangeable Role of Motor Cortex and Reafference for the Stable Execution of an Orofacial Action,” published in Vol. 43, Issue 30 of JNeurosci in 2023, with Megan Sansevere from SfN’;s Journals’; staff.

#31 Surprising Findings From a Side Project: Orphan Receptor Shows Promise for Treating Alcohol Dependence

Tue, 17 Sep 2024 14:42:00 GMT

This year, eNeuro is celebrating 10 years of publishing by highlighting select papers from throughout its history. This episode features a 2018 paper titled “Systemic and Intra-Habenular Activation of the Orphan G Protein-Coupled Receptor GPR139 Decreases Compulsive-Like Alcohol Drinking and Hyperalgesia in Alcohol-Dependent Rats” and showcases interviews with Olivier George and Jenni Kononoff.

#27 JNeurosci Spotlight: Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors within Cells: Temporal Resolution in Cytoplasm, Endoplasmic Reticulum, and Membrane

Tue, 28 May 2024 14:42:00 GMT

Aaron Nichols discusses his paper, “Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors within Cells: Temporal Resolution in Cytoplasm, Endoplasmic Reticulum, and Membrane,” published in Vol. 43, Issue 13 of JNeurosci in 2023, with Megan Sansevere from SfN’;s Journals’; staff.

#20 JNeurosci Spotlight: Distinct Progressions of Neuronal Activity Changes Underlie the Formation and Consolidation of a Gustatory Associative Memory

Tue, 07 Nov 2023 14:42:00 GMT

Anan Moran and Elor Arieli discuss their paper, “Distinct Progressions of Neuronal Activity Changes Underlie the Formation and Consolidation of a Gustatory Associative Memory,” published in Vol. 42, Issue 5 of JNeurosci, with Megan Sansevere from SfN’;s Journals’; staff. 

#26 Sea slugs, memory, and challenging dogma: Glanzman et al. 6 years later

Tue, 28 May 2024 14:42:00 GMT

This year eNeuro is celebrating 10 years of publishing by highlighting select papers from throughout its history. This episode features a 2018 paper titled, "RNA from Trained Aplysia Can Induce an Epigenetic Engram for Long-Term Sensitization in Untrained Aplysia," and showcases interviews with David Glanzman and Alexis Bédécarrats.

#30 Prefrontal Regulation of Safety Learning during Ethologically Relevant Thermal Threat

Tue, 27 Aug 2024 14:42:00 GMT

Anthony Burgos-Robles and Ada Felix-Ortiz discuss their paper, “Prefrontal Regulation of Safety Learning during Ethologically Relevant Thermal Threat,” published in Vol. 11, Issue 2 of eNeuro, with Editor-in-Chief Christophe Bernard. ;

#21 JNeurosci Spotlight: JUN Regulation of Injury-Induced Enhancers in Schwann Cells

Tue, 07 Nov 2023 14:42:00 GMT

Raghu Ramesh and John Svaren discuss their paper, “JUN Regulation of Injury-Induced Enhancers in Schwann Cells,” published in Vol. 42, Issue 34 of JNeurosci, with Megan Sansevere from SfN’;s Journals’; staff. Find the rest of the ;Spotlight collection here.

#33 JNeurosci Spotlight: Structural Fingerprinting of the Frontal Aslant Tract: Predicting Cognitive Control Capacity and Obsessive-Compulsive Symptoms

Tue, 24 Sep 2024 14:42:00 GMT

Danni Wang, Yihong Yang, and Yao Li discuss their paper, “Structural Fingerprinting of the Frontal Aslant Tract: Predicting Cognitive Control Capacity and Obsessive-Compulsive Symptoms,” published in Vol. 43, Issue 42 of JNeurosci in 2023, with Megan Sansevere from SfN’;s Journals’; staff.

#40 JNeurosci Spotlight (Part 2): Foveal Neurons

Fri, 01 Aug 2025 12:21:00 GMT

Ashley Clark discusses her paper, “Oculomotor Contributions to Foveal Crowding,” published in Vol. 44, Issue 48 of JNeurosci, with Megan Sansevere from SfN’;s Journals’; staff.

#35 Hostile Attribution Bias Shapes Neural Synchrony in the Left Ventromedial Prefrontal Cortex during Ambiguous Social Narratives

Tue, 15 Oct 2024 14:42:00 GMT

Yizhou Lyu, Zishan Su, and Yuan Chang Leong discuss their paper, “Hostile Attribution Bias Shapes Neural Synchrony in the Left Ventromedial Prefrontal Cortex during Ambiguous Social Narratives,” published in Vol. 44, Issue 9 of JNeurosci, with JNeurosci Reviewing Editor Daniela Schiller. 

#11 Synaptic Mechanisms Underlying Temporally Precise Information Processing in the VNLL, an Auditory Brainstem Nucleus

Tue, 20 Dec 2022 14:42:00 GMT

Felix Felmy and Nikolaos Kladisios discuss their paper, ;“Synaptic Mechanisms underlying Temporally Precise Information Processing in the VNLL, an auditory brainstem nucleus”, ; published in Vol. 42, Issue 34 of JNeurosci, with Reviewing Editor Ruth Anne Eatock. 

#9 Transcranial Random Noise Stimulation Acutely Lowers the Response Threshold of Human Motor Circuits

Tue, 18 Oct 2022 14:40:00 GMT

#10 Human Hippocampal Neurons Track Moments in a Sequence of Events

Tue, 22 Nov 2022 14:40:00 GMT

Leila Reddy discusses her paper, ;“Human Hippocampal Neurons Track Moments in a Sequence of Events,” ;published in Vol. 41, Issue 31 of The Journal of Neuroscience, with Editor-in-Chief Marina Picciotto. 

Brain Atrophy in Old Age Disrupts Sleep and Its Influence on Motor Memory

Thu, 29 Mar 2018 00:00:00 GMT

Material below summarizes the article ;White Matter Structure in Older Adults Moderates the Benefit of Sleep Spindles on Motor Memory Consolidation, published on October 30, 2017, in ;JNeurosci ;and authored ;by Bryce A. Mander, Alyssa H. Zhu, John R. Lindquist, Sylvia Villeneuve, Vikram Rao, Brandon Lu, Jared M. Saletin, Sonia Ancoli-Israel, William J. Jagust, and Matthew P. Walker.

Best described by the classic adage “practice makes perfect,” procedural memory encapsulates the ability to acquire new skills through repeated training. This training alters how our brains and bodies process information and perform specific behaviors, so when we carry out the same actions in the future, it will be “like riding a bike.”

Many studies show older adults are less able to learn new motor skills. Why this is so remains unclear, but recent findings suggest how well an older individual sleeps may matter.

The Neuronal Cytoskeleton Controls Synaptic Transmission

Thu, 11 Jan 2018 00:00:00 GMT

Material below summarizes the article ;MAP1B Light Chain Modulates Synaptic Transmission via AMPA Receptor Intracellular Trapping, published on September 13, 2017, in ;JNeurosci ;and authored ;by Rocío Palenzuela, Yolanda Gutiérrez, Jonathan E. Draffin, Argentina Lario, Marion Benoist, and José A. Esteban.

The regulation of neuronal communication in the brain is crucial for all our cognitive functions.

Traditionally, this has been thought to occur at the level of synaptic connections, where the neurotransmitter signal released from one neuron is received by the adjacent neuron via neurotransmitter receptors.

It is now well established that neurons can modify the number of neurotransmitter receptors present at the synapse. This process, a form of synaptic plasticity, is one basis for learning and memory.

Phosphatidylinositol-4,5-bisphosphate Is Important for Hearing

Wed, 26 Sep 2018 00:00:00 GMT

Material below summarizes the article ;Phosphoinositol-4,5-bisphosphate Regulates Auditory Hair Cell Mechanotransduction Channel Pore Properties and Fast Adaptation, published on October 24, 2017, in ;JNeurosci ;and authored ;by Thomas Effertz, Lars Becker, Anthony W. Peng, and Anthony J. Ricci.

In vertebrates, sound is detected by the organ of Corti, a sensory epithelium located inside the cochlea, the snail shell shaped part of our inner ear. The organ of Corti comprises one row of inner hair cells (IHC), which function as microphones, and three rows of outer hair cells (OHC), which function as amplifiers of faint sound stimuli.

Both IHCs and OHCs possess a sensory organelle, termed hair bundle, on their apical surface that consists of multiple rows of actin-filled stereocilia. The stereocilia are arranged in a staircase pattern, with each shorter stereocilium connected to its taller neighbor at the tips through filaments, termed tip links.

How Can Synaptic Axon Terminals Adapt to Altered Metabolic Demand?

Thu, 21 Jun 2018 00:00:00 GMT

Material below summarizes the article ;Mitochondrial Ultrastructure Is Coupled to Synaptic Performance at Axonal Release Sites, published on January 15, 2018, in ;eNeuro ;and ;authored by Csaba Cserép, Balázs Pósfai, Anett Dóra Schwarcz, and Ádám Dénes.

Synaptic transmission, the process through which brain cells communicate with each other, consumes a huge amount of energy, the vast majority of which is provided by neuronal mitochondria.

As information is being processed and stored in the brain, long-term changes occur in synaptic strength, altering both the structure and the activity of these connections. This means the amount of energy needed at a given location in neural networks is also changing in space and time, making some kind of adaptation mechanism necessary.

How Does Continuous Stimulation With Alternating Currents Alter Event-Related Brain Oscillations?

Thu, 05 Nov 2020 13:08:00 GMT

Material below summarizes the article ;Facilitated Event-Related Power Modulations During Transcranial Alternating Current Stimulation (tACS) Revealed by Concurrent tACS-MEG, published on June 25, 2018, in ;eNeuro ;and authored by Florian H. Kasten, Burkhard Maess, and Christoph S. Herrmann.

Relationships between brain oscillations and human cognition are traditionally performed using imaging modalities, such as magneto- or electroencephalography (M/EEG). For almost a century, these methods were successfully used to identify oscillatory brain activity within different frequency bands and associate them with numerous cognitive functions, as well as several neurological and psychiatric disorders.

However, as these methods provide observational data, inference about relationships between brain oscillations and cognition remains mostly correlational.

Rehearsing Weakly Attended Events Are Prioritized for Better Memory

Thu, 17 May 2018 00:00:00 GMT

Material below summarizes the article ;Working Memory Replay Prioritizes Weakly Attended Events, ;published on August 14, 2017, in ;eNeuro ;and authored by Anna Jafarpour, Will Penny, Gareth Barnes, Robert T. Knight, and Emrah Duzel.

Working memory is a system with limited capacity that supports keeping information in mind for a short duration.

Two important questions are: One, what are the mechanisms by which information is retained during the gap between encoding and recall (that is, the maintenance period), and two, how is information within working memory prioritized?

These are often studied with a cuing procedure in which subjects are prompted to focus on one item. For example, if an event in a sequence of three events is cued, the cued event can be decoded during maintenance.

In this study, we investigated how the information about a sequence of multiple events is retained without cueing.

New Approach for Investigating Neuropathic Pain by Optogenetic Stimulation of Aβ Fibers

Thu, 07 Jun 2018 00:00:00 GMT

Material below summarizes the article ;Optogentetic Activation of Non-nociceptive ;Aβ Fibers Induces Neuropathic Pain-Like Sensory and Emotional Behaviors After Nerve Injury in Rats, ;published on February 5, 2018, in ;eNeuro ;and authored by Ryoichi Tashima, Keisuke Koga, Misuzu Sekine, Kensho Kanehisa, Yuta Kohro, Keiko Tominaga, Katsuyuki Matshushita, Hidetoshi Tozaki-Saitoh, Yugo Fukazawa, Kazuhid Inoue, Hiromu Yawo, Hidemasa Furue, and Makoto Tsuda.

Somatosensory information from the periphery is conveyed to the spinal dorsal horn (SDH) via primary afferent sensory neurons. The incoming sensory information is processed by complex circuits in the SDH, integrated to projection neurons relaying to several regions of the brain.

Primary afferents are broadly divided into two classes: nociceptive (mainly unmyelinated C, and thinly myelinated alpha delta (Aδ) fibers), and non-nociceptive (myelinated alpha beta (Aβ) fibers), which respond to noxious and innocuous stimuli, respectively.

The Maternal Immune System and Autism Spectrum Disorder

Tue, 21 Aug 2018 00:00:00 GMT

Material below is adapted from the ;SfN ;Short Course ;The Maternal Interleukin-17a Pathway in Mice Promotes Autism-Like Phenotypes in Offspring, ;by Gloria B. Choi, PhD, Yeong S. Yim, PhD, Helen Wong, PhD, Sangdoo Kim, PhD, Hyun Ju Kim, PhD, Sangwon V. Kim, PhD, Charles A. Hoeffer, PhD, Jun R. Huh, PhD, and Dan R. Littman, MD, PhD. ;Short Courses are day-long scientific trainings on emerging neuroscience topics and research techniques held the day before SfN’;s annual meeting.

Researchers have shown before that if a mother has a viral infection during pregnancy, her baby has a higher chance of having autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Studies have also shown that activating the maternal immune system in mice leads to ASD-like symptoms in the mouse pups. But it was not clear how the mother’;s immune system interacted with the fetal brain.

Does It Take Effort for Bilingual Speakers to Switch Between Languages? It Depends.

Wed, 15 Aug 2018 00:00:00 GMT

Material below summarizes the article ;Bilingual Language Switching in the Lab vs. in the Wild: The Spatiotemporal Dynamics of Adaptive Language Control, published on August 16, 2017, in ;JNeurosci ;and authored by Esti Blanco-Elorrieta and Liina Pylkkänen.

Research on the neurobiology of bilingualism has suggested that switching languages is inherently effortful, requiring executive control to manage cognitive functions.

However, our study shows that this is only the case when speakers are prompted, or forced, to do so.

In fact, we found that switching languages when conversing with another bilingual individual —; a circumstance when switches are typically voluntary —; does not require any more executive control than when continuing to speak the same language.

Understanding the Glymphatic System

Tue, 17 Jul 2018 00:00:00 GMT

Material below is adapted from the SfN Short Course ;The Glymphatic System, ;by Nadia Aalling, MSc, Anne Sofie Finmann Munk, BSc, Iben Lundgaard, PhD, and Maiken Nedergaard, MD, DMSc. Short Courses are daylong scientific trainings on emerging neuroscience topics and research techniques held the day before SfN’;s annual meeting.

The glymphatic system is a network of vessels that clear waste from the central nervous system (CNS), mostly during sleep. Recent evidence suggests that the glymphatic system may be disrupted in and contribute to some diseases of the brain.

Understanding a Microglia Receptor in Alzheimer’s Disease

Tue, 18 Sep 2018 00:00:00 GMT

Material below is adapted from the SfN Short Course ;TREM2 Variants: New Keys to Decipher Alzheimer’;s Disease Pathogenesis, ;by Marco Colonna, MD, and Yaming Wang, PhD. Short Courses are day-long scientific trainings on emerging neuroscience topics and research techniques held the day before SfN’;s annual meeting.

Mutations in the gene that encodes triggering receptor expressed on myeloid cells 2 (TREM2) were originally discovered in patients with a very rare form of inheritable dementia. TREM2 is a transmembrane protein expressed on the surface of microglia, the cells that function as macrophages in the central nervous system (CNS).

Attending to the Amygdala’s Hold Over Aversive Salience

Thu, 20 Sep 2018 00:00:00 GMT

Material below summarizes the article ;Basolateral Amygdala Neurons Maintain Aversive Emotional Salience, ;published on March 21, 2018, in ;JNeurosci ;and authored ;by Auntora Sengupta, Joanna O.Y. Yau, Philip Jean-Richard Dit Bressel, Yu Liu, Zayra E. Millan, John M. Power, and Gavan P. McNally.

The ability to learn about and respond to sources of danger is essential to survival. A variety of lines of evidence, ranging from single-unit recording studies in rodents to functional neuroimaging or neuropsychological studies in humans, show the amygdala is critical for this learning.

Understanding the Scientific Mechanisms of Drug Addiction

Mon, 07 May 2018 00:00:00 GMT

Karen Ersche’s work focuses on the neurochemical processes underlying addictive behavior and how to translate these findings into therapies. Her findings have contributed to new behavioral and pharmacological approaches. For this work, she was awarded the Jacob P. Waletzky Award in 2017.

What led you to study drug addiction, particularly cocaine addiction?

My enthusiasm for drug addiction research is rooted in the potential it has to make a difference in people’s lives. Scientific advances have fundamentally changed the understanding of addiction from a deficit of character to a brain disorder, and I strongly believe it will also provide the pathway for developing more effective treatments.

My research aims to tackle the problems surrounding cocaine addiction, which is a fairly common disorder in the United Kingdom with few effective treatments.

Using Optogenetics to Understand the Neurocircuitry of Addiction

Tue, 01 May 2018 00:00:00 GMT

In the last seven years Garret Stuber, an associate professor at the University of North Carolina, has worked to characterize neural circuits underlying addiction, depression, and eating disorders. Through his use of optogenetics, his findings have contributed to a more foundational understanding of how drug addiction affects the brain, focusing on synaptic plasticity. For this work, he received the Jacob P. Waletzky Award in 2017.

What initially let you to study addiction, depression, and eating disorders?

Addiction, and neuropsychiatric disease in general, take a tremendous toll on society. These disorders are incredibly expensive from a public health perspective, and they likely — directly or indirectly — impact everyone to some extent.

People close to me have dealt with addiction and mental illness, which has driven me to dedicate my career to better understanding the neurobiology of addiction and reward and, more broadly, of motivated behavior.

I’ve been focused on this since I was an undergraduate and to this day I’m still extremely passionate about this research.

Viewing Multiple Sclerosis From the Bench and the Bedside

Tue, 15 May 2018 00:00:00 GMT

Material below is adapted from the ;SfN ;Short Course ;Multiple Sclerosis: From Bench to Bedside and Back Again, ;by Steven L. Hauser, MD. Short Courses are daylong scientific trainings on emerging neuroscience topics and research techniques held the day before SfN’;s annual meeting. ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ;

The connection between the type of immune cells called B-cells and multiple sclerosis (MS) was confirmed after unblinding a phase II clinical trial in 2006. The story of the challenges and successes that clinicians and researchers have faced in studying this connection reveals that coupling laboratory and clinical research can improve the efficacy of translational medicine.

Partial Loss of Atoh1 Function Causes Hearing Loss

Thu, 29 Nov 2018 00:00:00 GMT

Material below summarizes the article ;An Atoh1-S193A Phospho-Mutant Allele Causes Hearing Deficits and Motor Impairment, published on July 20, 2017, in ;JNeurosci ;and authored by Wei Rose Xie, Hsin-I Jen, Michelle L. Seymour, Szu-Ying Yeh, Fred A. Pereira, Andrew K. Groves, Tiemo J. Klisch, and Huda Y. Zoghbi.

Hair cells of the inner ear play a critical role in the process of hearing. These specialized sensory cells convert mechanical sound waves into an electrical nerve signal that gets sent to the auditory cortex. Many genes contribute to the highly regulated development of these hair cells.

In this study, we discovered that partial loss of one of these genes, Atoh1, causes degeneration of mature inner ear hairs cells and adult hearing loss.

Getting Into the Beat of Music

Tue, 24 Jul 2018 00:00:00 GMT

Material below summarizes the article ;Neural Entrainment to the Beat: the “Missing Pulse” Phenomenon, published on May 30, 2017, in ;JNeurosci ;and authored by Idan Tal, Edward W. Large, Eshed Rabinovitch, Yi Wei, Charles E. Schroeder, David Poeppel, and Elana Zion Golumbic.

Most humans have a near-automatic inclination to tap, clap, or move to the beat of music.

The capacity to extract a periodic beat from a complex musical segment is remarkable, yet the neural mechanisms through which this is achieved remain elusive.

In this study, we sought to determine whether there is evidence for neural entrainment to the beat.

Disentangled Assembly Codes Emerge in a Model for a Layer 2/3 Microcircuit Motif

Thu, 18 Jan 2018 00:00:00 GMT

Material below summarizes the article ;Feedback Inhibition Shapes Emergent Computational Properties Of Cortical Microcircuit Motifs, published on July 31, 2017, inJNeurosci ;and authored by Zeno Jonke, Robert Legenstein, Stefan Habenschuss, and Wolfgang Maass.

The neocortex, which serves higher-order functions such as sensory perception, motor control, and cognition, is one of the most enigmatic structures of the mammalian brain.

There exists ample evidence that the vertical structure of the neocortex —; the so-called cortical column —; is repeated throughout the cortical sheet. However, the computational function of the cortical column is still unknown.

In our article, we used computer simulations to study the computational properties of a model of one of the most prominent microcircuit motifs of the cortical column: densely interconnected populations of pyramidal neurons and parvalbumin positive (PV⁺) inhibitory interneurons in cortical layer 2/3.

Learning and Stress Shape the Reward Response Patterns of Serotonin Neurons and Dopamine Neurons

Thu, 25 Jan 2018 00:00:00 GMT

Material below summarizes the article ;Learning and Stress Shape the Reward Response Patterns of Serotonin Neurons, published on September 13, 2017, in ;JNeurosci ;and authored ;by Weixin Zhong, Yi Li, Qiru Feng, and Minmin Luo.

The ability to predict future events is critical for the survival of an organism. Prediction via associative learning can prepare animals to gain rewards while avoiding disadvantages.

Classical Pavlovian conditioning is an important means to create predictive associations. During conditioning, a previously neutral item —; unconditioned stimulus (US), which can be either rewarding or aversive, is repeatedly paired with a biologically salient stimulus —; conditioned stimulus (CS). The CS acquires importance after conditioning if it consistently predicts the occurrence of the US.

Olfactory Cilia Use Extracellular Glucose to Fuel Odor Transduction

Wed, 23 May 2018 00:00:00 GMT

Material below summarizes the article ;Energy Requirements of Odor Transduction in the Chemosensory Cilia of Olfactory Sensory Neurons Rely on Oxidative Phosphorylation and Glycolytic Processing of Extracellular Glucose, published on June 7, 2017, in ;JNeurosci ;and authored by Pablo S. Villar, Ricardo Delgado, Cecilia Vergara, Juan G. Reyes, and Juan Bacigalupo.

Organelles are specialized subcellular structures that serve specific functions in all eukaryotic cells.

Most of them, such as the mitochondria and the endoplasmic reticulum, are found in the cytoplasm surrounded by their own lipid membranes, which are not connected to the plasma membrane.

A Role for Immune-Related Proteins in Shaping Synapses

Tue, 20 Nov 2018 00:00:00 GMT

Material below is adapted from the ;SfN ;Short Course ;Synapse Elimination and Learning Rules Coregulated by Major Histocompatibility Class I Protein H2-Db, ;by Hanmi Lee, PhD, Lowry A. Kirkby, PhD, Barbara K. Brott, PhD, Jaimie D. Adelson, PhD, Sarah Cheng, BS, Marla B. Feller, PhD, Akash Datwani, PhD, and Carla J. Shatz, PhD. ;Short Courses are daylong scientific trainings on emerging neuroscience topics and research techniques held the day before SfN’;s annual meeting.

Major histocompatibility complex class I (MHCI) proteins occur on nearly all vertebrate cells and function as a marquee for the immune system, displaying bits of non-self proteins from the cell’;s cytosol on its surface. Now, researchers have shown in mice that a common MCHI protein, H2-Db, is required for shaping the synapses during the development of the retinogeniculate system.

Lost in Translation, Found in Depression

Thu, 02 Aug 2018 00:00:00 GMT

Material below summarizes the article ;Loss of eIF4E Phosphorylation Engenders Depression-like Behaviors via Selective mRNA Translation, published on February 21, 2018, in ;JNeurosci ;and authored ;by Inês S. Amorim, Sonal Kedia, Stella Kouloulia, Konstanze Simbriger, Ilse Gantois, Seyed Mehdi Jafarnejad, Yupeng Li, Agniete Kampaite, Tine Pooters, Nicola Romanò, and Christos G. Gkogkas.

Protein synthesis, or mRNA translation, is a key step in the gene-expression pathway. Initiation of translation is the rate-limiting step in protein synthesis, where the majority of regulatory events occur.

Eukaryotic initiation factor 4E (eIF4E) binds to the five-prime cap structure of mRNA and regulates translation initiation by forming a multiprotein complex called eIF4F.

Intersections Between Brain and Immune System in Health and Disease

Wed, 28 Mar 2018 00:00:00 GMT

This Short Course from Neuroscience 2017 discusses the mediators, mechanisms, and functional implications of neural-immune crosstalk in health and disease. Researchers highlight new tools and approaches with which to study and model neural-immune signaling in different contexts, including human disease.

Topics covered include: interactions between the brain and the periphery, reactive gliosis and glymphatic-lymphatic connections, microglia function and dysfunction, microbiome and gut-brain axis, and immune mechanisms of synapse loss in development and disease.

A Look at Award-Winning Research on Visual Processing

Tue, 31 Jul 2018 00:00:00 GMT

Katrin Franke’;s research seeks to understand how the retinal network disassembles complex visual input. Previous research on this topic conducted by the field often focused on individual types of retinal cells, but Franke sought to record complete populations of neurons to capture the full functional diversity of parallel retinal channels. Through her approach, her findings have increased the understanding of how the mammalian retina processes visual information. For her outstanding work, she was awarded the Nemko Prize in Cellular or Molecular Neuroscience in 2017.

What led to your interest in visual processing?

Information processing in the visual system first attracted my interest as a master’;s student at Tübingen University in a lecture series about the retina as a model system in neuroscience. I found it extremely fascinating that retinal cells perform computations to “decide” what’;s important enough to be sent to the brain, determining what we see.

I decided to do a PhD in this field because I wanted to better understand how the retina decomposes the incoming visual stream into its relevant components that can then be interpreted by the brain.

In the last few years, I developed a strong interest in visual ecology, which aims to understand how different animal species use their visual systems to meet their ecological needs. I think investigating visual processing and comparing findings from different species is exciting and essential to discover universal and general principles of vision.

Some Acute Concussion Symptoms May Not Be Pathological

Tue, 26 Jun 2018 00:00:00 GMT

Material below summarizes the article ;Mechanosensory Stimulation Evokes Acute Concussion-Like Behavior by Activating GIRKs Coupled to Muscarinic Receptors in a Simple Vertebrate, published on April 18, 2017, in ;eNeuro ;and authored by Wen-Chang Li, Xiao-Yue Zhu, and Emma Ritson.

Concussion occurs after a sudden, heavy impact to the head, often resulting in temporary unconsciousness or confusion.

In humans, concussion is especially commonplace in contact sports, like rugby and boxing. The fact that only few vertebrates, such as woodpeckers and rams, are considered unaffected by concussion demonstrates its highly conserved nature.

Despite the prevalence of concussion, there is still no consensus on its precise definition among medical professionals.

Intrinsic Mechanisms of Stress Resilience in the Basolateral Amygdala

Mon, 23 Nov 2020 13:12:00 GMT

Material below summarizes the article ;NPY Induces Stress Resilience via Downregulation of Ih in Principal Neurons of Rat Basolateral Amygdala, published on May 9, 2018, in ;JNeurosci ;and authored ;by Heika Silveira Villarroel, Maria Bompolaki, James P. Mackay, Ana Pamela Miranda Tapia, Sheldon D. Michaelson, Randy J. Leitermann, Robert A. Marr, Janice H. Urban, and William F. Colmers.

Stress is a key and inescapable component of life. Our physiology is tuned to accommodate stress, by anticipating and responding reflexively to physical or emotional threats and challenges.

An ;appropriate stress response ;maintains homeostasis, the healthy state, and prevents harm to the individual. But responding to stress mobilizes considerable physiological resources. Thus, it is important the stress response is terminated and emotional recalibration is achieved once the threat has gone so life can proceed.

Stay Awake to Sync Brain's Master Clock to External Time

Thu, 01 Mar 2018 00:00:00 GMT

Material below summarizes the article ;Sleep Deprivation and Caffeine Treatment Potentiate Photic Resetting of the Master Circadian Clock in a Diurnal Rodent, published on April 19, 2017, in ;JNeurosci ;and authored by Pawan Kumar Jha, Hanan Bouâouda, Sylviane Gourmelen, Stephanie Dumont, Fanny Fuchs, Yannick Goumon, Patrice Bourgin, Andries Kalsbeek, and Etienne Challet.

The states of being awake and falling asleep are regulated by interaction of wake and sleep promoting areas in the mammalian brain.

The master clock in the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) of the hypothalamus provides a temporal pattern of sleep and wake that —; like many other behavioral and physiological rhythms —; is oppositely phased between nocturnal (night active) and diurnal (day active) animals.

If Odor Is Lock-and-Key, What Happens When You Change All the Locks?

Thu, 21 Jan 2021 10:01:00 GMT

Material below summarizes the article ;Vibrational Detection of Odorant Functional Groups by Drosophila Melanogaster, published on October 26, 2017, in ;eNeuro ;and authored by Klio Maniati, Katherine-Joanne Haralambous, Luca Turin, and Efthimios M.C. Skoulakis.

We are interested in tests that could help decide between the vibrational theory of odor and the lock-and-key theory, a controversial question in the field of olfaction. Is odor character of a molecule determined by its shape or its vibrations?

In a shape theory, the smell of an odorant is encoded in the shape of the odorant molecule, which in turn determines the receptors in which it fits. This is a lock-and-key theory: ;the shapes of ;both ;locks and keys matter to the pattern of receptor activation.

Microglia Act in Diverse Neurological Processes

Wed, 10 Oct 2018 00:00:00 GMT

Material below is adapted from the ;SfN ;Short Course ;Microglia: Phagocytosing to Clean, Sculpt, and Destroy, ;by Soyon Hong, PhD, and Beth Stevens, PhD. ;Short Courses are day-long scientific trainings on emerging neuroscience topics and research techniques held the day before SfN’;s annual meeting.

Microglia —; the macrophages of the central nervous system (CNS) —; not only perform immune functions, but also sculpt the brain. They regulate neuronal development, play roles in plasticity and neurodegeneration, and prune synapses. Understanding how these cells function has helped researchers better understand how synapses can change during disease and may even lead to new therapies.

Obesity and APOE4: Gene-Environment Interaction in Alzheimer’s Disease

Thu, 22 Mar 2018 00:00:00 GMT

Material below summarizes the article ;Obesity Accelerates Alzheimer-Related Pathology in APOE4 but Not APOE3 Mice, published on June 12, 2017, in ;eNeuro ;and authored by V. Alexandra Moser, and Christian J. Pike.

Alzheimer’;s disease (AD) is a complex, multi-factorial disease for which a number of genetic, environmental, and lifestyle risk factors have been identified.

For the vast majority of those afflicted, AD does not result from any single factor, but rather the interactive effects of multiple risk factors. Despite the importance of interactions among risk factors, our understanding of how the combination of these variables affects development and progression of AD is poorly understood.

In this paper, we investigated the gene-environment interaction between two well-established AD risk factors, apolipoprotein E4 (APOE4) and obesity.

Human Sensory Neurons Are Powerful Tools for Testing New Pain Treatments

Thu, 12 Nov 2020 15:43:00 GMT

Material below summarizes the article ;Metabotropic Glutamate Receptor 2/3 (mGluR2/3) Activation Suppresses TRPV1 Sensitization in Mouse, but Not Human, Sensory Neurons, published on March 5, 2018, in ;eNeuro ;and authored by Tayler D. Sheahan, Manouela V. Valtcheva, Lisa A. McIlvried, Melanie Y. Pullen, David A.A. Baranger, and Robert W. Gereau.

Chronic pain is a widespread, debilitating condition in need of effective treatments. Unfortunately, current drugs for pain relief, such as opioids, often have unwanted side effects, including addiction and abuse, which are mediated by off-target drug activity within the central nervous system.

Therefore, scientists and clinicians have been particularly interested in identifying new targets for pain relief within the peripheral nervous system.

Memory Mechanisms in Humans: From Physiology to Behavior and Computational Models

Fri, 04 May 2018 00:00:00 GMT

This is a playlist of 19 videos from the 2016 FENS-Hertie Winter School.

Since the groundbreaking description of patient H.M. in the 1950's, our understanding of human memory and the mechanisms underlying memory functions has increased dramatically in the last decades.

Through extensive interactions with leaders in the field, the 2016 FENS-Hertie Winter School provided a comprehensive overview of both the basic and the latest knowledge about memory functions and their underlying mechanisms in humans.

A Neuropeptide Trumps GABA in a Neuroendocrine Circuit

Thu, 15 Nov 2018 00:00:00 GMT

Material below summarizes the article ;Dominant Neuropeptide Cotransmission in Kisspeptin-GABA Regulation of GnRH Neuron Firing Driving Ovulation, published on July 11, 2018, in ;JNeurosci ;and authored ;by Richard Piet, Bruna Kalil, Tim McLennan, Robert Porteous, Katja Czieselsky, and Allan E. Herbison.

Fertility in all mammals is governed by a small population of neurons scattered in the basal forebrain that secrete gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH).

GnRH neurons project to the median eminence and release GnRH into the pituitary portal blood system. In the anterior pituitary, GnRH stimulates secretion into the blood of the gonadotropins follicle-stimulating hormone and luteinizing hormone (LH), which in turn act in the gonads to promote gametogenesis and sex steroid hormone production.

Organization of the Mammalian Locomotor CPG

Tue, 13 Feb 2018 00:00:00 GMT

Material below summarizes the article ;Organization of the Mammalian Locomotor CPG: Review of Computational Model and Circuit Architectures Based on Genetically Identified Spinal Interneurons, ;published on September 8, 2015, in ;eNeuro ;and authored by Ilya A. Rybak, Kimberly J. Dougherty, and Natalia A. Shevtsova.

Locomotion represents motor behaviors that allow animals to move in physical environment. In legged animals, including mammals, locomotion results from coordinated rhythmic movements of limbs interacting with the ground. As in other rhythmic behaviors, such as breathing or scratching, locomotion is controlled by central neural circuits referred to as central pattern generators (CPGs). The CPGs are able to autonomously generate basic rhythmic activity without rhythmic inputs from the higher brain areas and without afferent feedback.

Desire and Prediction: How Different Dopamine Signals Help Us Get What We Want

Tue, 03 Apr 2018 00:00:00 GMT

Material below summarizes the article ;Differential Dopamine Release Dynamics in the Nucleus Accumbens Core and Shell Reveal Complementary Signals for Error Prediction and Incentive Motivation, ;published on August 19, 2015, in ;JNeurosci ;and authored ;by Michael P. Saddoris, Fabio Cacciapaglia, R. Mark Wightman, and Regina M. Carelli.

Despite dopamine being one of the most actively studied neurotransmitters in the brain, there is surprisingly little consensus on what specifically this molecule contributes to behavior in normal animals.

One of the most dominant theories of dopamine signaling in the last 20 years has been based on the seminal work of Wolfram Schultz, whose experiments with dopamine neurons demonstrated a critical link between the firing patterns of dopamine neurons and learning.

Gene Therapy to Address Unmet Needs in Neurology2

Thu, 12 Jul 2018 00:00:00 GMT

This Neurobiology of Disease Workshop, held at Neuroscience 2017, embraces the breadth of "gene therapy," including viral vectors, oligonucleotides, and cell therapies used in promising preclinical studies and clinical trials for a variety of neurological disorders long thought to be incurable. These new methods involve DNA engineering, gene replacement using virus vectors and the patient's own genetically modified cells, oligonucleotides that can "revive" beneficial gene functions or suppress toxic ones, and viruses and cells armed to tackle brain tumors.

Growing Astrocytes in the Laboratory

Tue, 19 Jun 2018 00:00:00 GMT

Material below is adapted from the SfN Short Course ;Purification and Culture Methods for Astrocytes, by Shane Liddelow, PhD. Short Courses are day-long scientific trainings on emerging neuroscience topics and research techniques held the day before SfN’;s annual meeting.

Astrocytes are star-shaped glial cells that can clear debris, form scars, and take a number of other actions in response to a variety of central nervous system (CNS) problems, such as brain tumors, stroke, and neurodegenerative disease. But alongside beneficial effects, reactive astrocytes may also have a negative impact on CNS health.

Augmenting the Senses: Animal Models for Real-Time Sensory Prosthetics

Thu, 01 Sep 2016 00:00:00 GMT

Material below summarizes the article ;Embedding a Panoramic Representation of Infrared Light in the Adult Rat Somatosensory Cortex Through a Sensory Neuroprosthesis, published on February 24, 2016, in ;JNeurosci ;and authored ;by Konstantin Hartmann, Eric E. Thomson, Ivan Zea, Richy Yun, Peter Mullen, Jay Canarick, Albert Huh, and Miguel A. L. Nicolelis. ;

Sensory prosthetic systems, such as cochlear implants, have helped thousands of people with deficits in hearing. Visual prosthetic devices, such as retinal chips, hold great promise for the restoration of vision to those with retinal injury or disease. One key goal for the future is to bypass the peripheral nervous system altogether and build high-capacity prosthetic devices that directly connect to the cerebral cortex.

Spatial and Temporal K-Complex Variability Helps Elucidate Its Potential Role in Memory Consolidation

Thu, 24 Mar 2016 00:00:00 GMT

Material below summarizes the article ;Distribution, Amplitude, Incidence, Co-Occurrence, and Propagation of Human K-Complexes in Focal Transcortical Recordings, ;published on September 2, 2015, in ;eNeuro ;and authored by Rachel A. Mak-McCully, Burke Q. Rosen, Matthieu Rolland, Jean Régis, Fabrice Bartolomei, Marc Rey, Patrick Chauvel, Sydney S. Cash, and Eric Halgren.

The K-complex represents one of the largest events recorded in the human cortex. It occurs during non-REM sleep as an isolated downstate, which may arise spontaneously or be evoked in response to a sensory stimulus. In this study, we sought to characterize the basic but essential spatial and temporal dynamics of the K-complex across the human cortex using bipolar stereoencephalographic (SEEG) recordings.

Sudden Onset of Motor Abnormalities in a Mouse Model of Spinocerebellar Ataxia Type 6

Thu, 14 Jul 2016 00:00:00 GMT

Material below summarizes the article ;Rapid Onset of Motor Deficits in a Mouse Model of Spinocerebellar Ataxia Type 6 Precedes Late Cerebellar Degeneration, published on December 3, 2015, in ;eNeuro ;and authored by Sriram Jayabal, Lovisa Ljungberg, Thomas Erwes, Alexander Cormier, Sabrina Quilez, Sara El Jaouhari, and Alanna J. Watt.

Spinocerebellar ataxia type 6 (SCA6) is a rare neurological disorder that typically manifests at mid-life and leads to progressive gait abnormalities. SCA6 is caused by a mutation in the ;CACNA1A ;gene that encodes the P/Q-type calcium channel. The P/Q channel is richly expressed in the cerebellum, the “little brain” at the base of the brain that is involved in motor coordination and motor learning. Purkinje cells are the principal cells of the cerebellum and are essential for its proper functioning. We know from postmortem studies that Purkinje cells undergo degeneration in SCA6, which may underlie symptoms of ataxia, or loss of motor control.

The Amygdala and Aberrant Fear

Thu, 21 Jul 2016 00:00:00 GMT

Material below summarizes the article ;Disrupted Prediction Error Links Excessive Amygdala Activation to Excessive Fear, published on January 13, 2016, in ;JNeurosciand authored ;by Auntora Sengupta, Bryony Winters, Elena E. Bagley, and Gavan P. McNally.

The amygdala, a group of nuclei in the medial temporal lobe, is a key brain structure for fear and anxiety. Several neuropsychiatric disorders are characterized by heightened activation of the amygdala. fMRI studies in clinically anxious people consistently show increased amygdala activity compared to controls during anxiety symptom provocation or presentations of negative emotional stimuli.

Ulk4 Deficiency Impairs Motile Cilia and CSF Flow

Mon, 19 Dec 2016 00:00:00 GMT

Material below summarizes the article ;Ulk4 Is Essential for Ciliogenesis and CSF Flow, ;published on July 20, 2016, in ;JNeurosci ;and authored by Min Liu, Zhenlong Guan, Qin Shen, Pierce Lalor, Una Fitzgerald, Timothy O'Brien, Peter Dockery, and Sanbing Shen. ;

Tiny hair-like subcellular structures called motile cilia project from the ependymal surface to ventricular cavities in the brain. Their synchronized beating drives directional flow of the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). Defects in ciliary development and/or function, termed ciliopathies, impair CSF flow, leading to hydrocephalus.

In fact, ciliopathies are now recognized as an emerging class of devastating disorders with pleiotropic symptoms. These include Joubert syndrome, Bardet-Biedl syndrome, Meckel-Gruber syndrome, Oral–facial–digital syndrome type 1, Nephronophthisis, dyslexia, and schizophrenia, many of which are associated with hydrocephalus.

Surprising Data on SoxC Functions in Cerebral Cortical Development

Thu, 28 Jan 2016 00:00:00 GMT

Material below summarizes the article ;Orchestration of Neuronal Differentiation and Progenitor Pool Expansion in the Developing Cortex by SoxC Genes, published on July 22, 2015, in ;JNeurosci ;and authored by Chao Chen, Garrett A. Lee, Ariel Pourmorady, Elisabeth Sock, and Maria J. Donoghue.

As the brain forms, there is a dynamic tension between whether a cell divides to make more mitotically active cells or differentiates to become neuron or glia. In the cerebral cortex, the biggest and most complex part of the mammalian brain, dividing cells reside close to the lateral ventricle and differentiated cells occupy domains closer to the skull.

Historically, the scientific community treated dividing cells as a single population; however, recent studies have demonstrated that there is a second population of dividing cells located a distance away from the ventricle, in the subventricular zone, that are called intermediate progenitor cells (IPCs).

Drugs That Promote Remyelination Could Help Treat Multiple Sclerosis

Mon, 07 Nov 2016 00:00:00 GMT

Material below is adapted from the SfN Short Course ;Drug-Based Modulation of Endogenous Stem Cells Promotes Functional Remyelination In Vivo, ;by Fadi Najm, et al. Short Courses are daylong scientific trainings on emerging neuroscience topics and research techniques held the day before SfN’;s annual meeting.

Working like the insulation coating electrical wires, myelin —; the fatty substance sheathing the thin fiber projecting from the neuronal cell body —; protects those axons and supports efficient nerve transmission.

Multiple sclerosis (MS) arises when the immune system attacks myelin causing communication problems between the brain and the rest of the body. MS is characterized by both damage to the myelin sheath (demyelination) and a failure to repair the damaged myelin (remyelination). Without the protective myelin coating, messages traveling along nerve fibers may be slowed or stopped, and, over time, the axons and cell bodies of neurons can also become damaged.

Does Axon Initial Segment Plasticity Regulate Neuron Excitability?

Thu, 22 Sep 2016 00:00:00 GMT

Material below summarizes the article ;Neuron Morphology Influences Axon Initial Segment Plasticity, published on January 18, 2016, in ;eNeuro, ;and authored by Allan T. Gulledge and Jaime J. Bravo.

Most studies of plasticity in the nervous system focus on mechanisms regulating the synaptic connectivity between neurons. Yet plasticity in neuron function extends well beyond the synapse to include any structural or functional change that alters the way neurons transduce synaptic input into action potential output, a process known as synaptic integration.

In vertebrate neurons, the final stage of synaptic integration, the generation of action potentials, occurs in the axon initial segment (AIS). The AIS is a specialized region of the proximal axon that is enriched with the voltage-gated sodium channels (VGSCs) responsible for action potential initiation and propagation.

Alzheimer’s Relevance in the Neuroscience Community: A Collaborative Neuronline Perspective

Mon, 04 Nov 2024 10:27:00 GMT

The following article is a collaboration between members of the 2024 Neuronline Community Leaders program. The program is a group of active SfN members who are interested in cultivating the sharing and discussion of resources among SfN members on the Neuronline Community.

Alzheimer’;s Disease (AD) and Alzheimer’;s Disease-Related Dementias (ADRD) are debilitating diseases that take away an individual's identity, self, and devastate their loved ones. In addition to family and communities, AD and ADRD pose social and economic burdens globally, affecting economies, policies, and healthcare systems. This burden of dementia is also projected to disproportionately affect low- and middle-income countries.

Discussion: Unanswered Questions About the Human Brain

Mon, 10 Nov 2025 16:30:00 GMT

Even after decades of groundbreaking research, the human brain ;remains only ;partially understood. Fundamental questions persist about consciousness, cognition, memory, and neural plasticity. As neuroscience integrates with fields like AI and genetics, we continue to uncover new mysteries rather than final answers.

#42 Promoting Open Discussions of Scientific Failure Within the Annual Society for Neuroscience Conference

Tue, 25 Nov 2025 14:36:00 GMT

Megan ;Hagenauer and Daniela Schiller discuss their paper, ;“Promoting Open Discussions of Scientific Failure within the Annual Society for Neuroscience Conference,” published in eNeuro, with Editor-in-Chief Christophe Bernard. To ;see the YouTube channel referenced in this podcast, ;visit: ;https://www.youtube.com/@greatscientistsgreatfailur9496/video.

#41 JNeurosci Spotlight (Part 3): Cochlear Function and Development

Tue, 26 Aug 2025 14:36:00 GMT

Zhiyong Liu discusses his paper, ;“Revisiting the Potency of Tbx2 Expression in Transforming Outer Hair Cells into Inner Hair Cells at Multiple Ages In ;Vivo,” published in Vol. 44, Issue 23 of JNeurosci, with Megan Sansevere from SfN’;s Journals’; ;staff.

Discussion: "When Technology Moves Faster Than Understanding: Rethinking DBS"

Mon, 09 Mar 2026 15:24:00 GMT

In this discussion, let’s explore how we can better balance engineering-driven innovation with neuroscience to ensure responsible and biologically grounded advancement.

Dialogues Between Neuroscience and Society: Transforming Wine Appreciation from Sensory Experience to Mastery with Nicolas Quillé

Mon, 22 Dec 2025 15:23:00 GMT

This Dialogues Between Neuroscience and Society lecture was recorded ;Nov. ;15, 2025, at Neuroscience 2025 ;in ;San Diego.  

Nicolas ;Quillé, MW, highly credentialed wine professional, presents ;his framework for understanding wine tasting in the style of Robert Greene's three phases of mastery. ;

Sex Differences in the Brain Are Misunderstood

Mon, 22 Dec 2025 17:52:00 GMT

Sex differences in the brain are real, but they’re not what many people think of when they hear about them. This lecture will discuss some of the historical and current controversies surrounding sex differences in the brain; present evidence for different types of brain sex differences with an emphasis on molecular mechanisms of synaptic modulation; and explain the value of studying both sexes to ensure that advances in science and medicine have maximal impact for human health.

The Importance of Synapses in Alzheimer's Disease

Mon, 22 Dec 2025 17:47:00 GMT

Alzheimer’s disease is one of the most pressing medical issues of our time. In this lecture, Spires-Jones discusses advances in understanding the role of synapses in disease pathogenesis, including the accumulation of pathological proteins within synapses, the involvement of glia in synapse degeneration, and trans-synaptic spread of pathology through the brain.

Cognition Emerges From Neural Dynamics

Mon, 22 Dec 2025 17:44:00 GMT

Classic models likened brain function to neuron networks, like telegraph systems. Emerging evidence, however, suggests higher cognition relies on rhythmic oscillations or "brain waves" at the electric field level.

Neuronal Aging: A Major Risk for Cognitive Decline in Humans

Mon, 22 Dec 2025 17:52:00 GMT

This lecture will address the question: Why do we lose cognitive capacity and function as we age? New cellular models of human brain aging have led to a more comprehensive understanding of the cellular and molecular mechanisms that underly brain aging.

Ancestral Neuroscience Practices in South America: Historical Legacy and Neurobiological Glimpses

Tue, 16 Dec 2025 12:51:00 GMT

Long before the advent of modern neurosurgery and psychiatry, indigenous South American societies engaged in complex interventions targeting the brain and mind. From cranial trepanation in the Andes to ayahuasca rituals in the Amazon, these practices reveal a profound empirical knowledge of neuroanatomy, consciousness, and healing, even though these topics had ;other ;names. As contemporary science revisits the therapeutic potential of psychedelics and neuroplastic interventions, it is increasingly relevant to examine the roots of these traditions and their ;possible contributions ;to modern neuroscience.

Discussion: Is Resilience a Topic for Neuroscience?

Thu, 09 Apr 2026 13:00:00 GMT

In clinical practice, the concept of resilience is a well-known and widely-used term. It is related to this set of coping skills and strategies for day-to-day life.