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Graded guidance labels are widely used in neural map formation, but it is not well understood which potential strategy leads to their graded expression. In midbrain tectal map development, FGFs can induce an entire midbrain, but their protein distribution is unclear, nor is it known whether they may act instructively to produce graded gene expression. Using a receptor-alkaline phosphatase fusion probe,...
Classical fear conditioning is a powerful behavioral paradigm that is widely used to study the neuronal substrates of learning and memory. Previous studies have clearly identified the amygdala as a key brain structure for acquisition and storage of fear memory traces. Whereas the majority of this work has focused on principal cells and glutamatergic transmission and its plasticity, recent studies...
Brain mechanisms of hypnosis are poorly known. Cognitive accounts proposed that executive attentional systems may cause selective inhibition or disconnection of some mental operations. To assess motor and inhibitory brain circuits during hypnotic paralysis, we designed a go-nogo task while volunteers underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in three conditions: normal state, hypnotic...
Neural networks that regulate an organism's internal environment must sense perturbations, respond appropriately, and then reset. These adaptations should be reflected as changes in the efficacy of the synapses that drive the final output of these homeostatic networks. Here we show that hemorrhage, an in vivo challenge to fluid homeostasis, induces LTD at glutamate synapses onto hypothalamic magnocellular...
Lateral inhibition between near-neighbor neurons has long been thought to be important for narrowing the receptive fields of neurons in many sensory systems. A new study by Poo and Isaacson in this issue of Neuron examining olfactory processing finds that “global” inhibition within the primary olfactory cortex might accomplish a similar end.
The consolidation of memory is thought to occur via a hippocampal-neocortical dialog involving reactivation of memory patterns in the hippocampus during sharp-wave ripples. In this issue of Neuron, Nakashiba et al. demonstrate that CA3 output is required for consolidation of contextual fear memory. They also show that lack of CA3 output results in a decrease in ripple-related reactivation, providing...
A widely held memory consolidation theory posits that memory of events and space is initially stored in the hippocampus (HPC) in a time-limited manner and is consolidated in the neocortex for permanent storage. Although posttraining HPC lesions result in temporally graded amnesia, the precise HPC circuits and mechanisms involved in remote memory storage remain poorly understood. To investigate the...
Bursts of spikes triggered by sensory stimuli in midbrain dopamine neurons evoke phasic release of dopamine in target brain areas, driving reward-based reinforcement learning and goal-directed behavior. NMDA-type glutamate receptors (NMDARs) play a critical role in the generation of these bursts. Here we report LTP of NMDAR-mediated excitatory transmission onto dopamine neurons in the substantia nigra...
Hyperpolarization-activated cyclic nucleotide-gated (HCN) channels regulate neuronal excitability, pacemaking, dendritic integration, and homeostatic plasticity and are culprits in aberrant neuronal activity in certain epilepsies. In this issue of Neuron two manuscripts (Santoro et al. and Zolles et al.) report that HCN channel gating and expression are controlled by Trip8b (Pex5R) but with a bidirectional...
The properties of cortical circuits underlying central representations of sensory stimuli are poorly understood. Here we use in vivo cell-attached and whole-cell voltage-clamp recordings to reveal how excitatory and inhibitory synaptic input govern odor representations in rat primary olfactory (piriform) cortex. We show that odors evoke spiking activity that is sparse across the cortical population...
In Alzheimer's disease (AD), the impairment of declarative memory coincides with the accumulation of extracellular amyloid-β protein (Aβ) and intraneuronal tau aggregates. Dementia severity correlates with decreased synapse density in hippocampus and cortex. Although numerous studies show that soluble Aβ oligomers inhibit hippocampal long-term potentiation, their role in long-term synaptic depression...
Hyperpolarization-activated cyclic nucleotide-regulated (HCN) channels, which generate the I h current, mediate a number of important brain functions. The HCN1 isoform regulates dendritic integration in cortical pyramidal neurons and provides an inhibitory constraint on both working memory in prefrontal cortex and spatial learning and memory in the hippocampus. Altered expression of HCN1 following...
Hyperpolarization-activated cyclic nucleotide-gated (HCN) channels are key modulators of neuronal activity by providing the depolarizing cation current I h involved in rhythmogenesis, dendritic integration, and synaptic transmission. These tasks critically depend on the availability of HCN channels, which is dynamically regulated by intracellular cAMP; the range of this regulation, however,...
Architectural practice and neuroscience research use our brains and minds in much the same way. However, the link between neuroscience knowledge and architectural design—with rare exceptions—has yet to be made. The concept of linking these two fields is a challenge worth considering.
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