Nature Neuroscience - Current issue : December 2008 - Vol 11 No 12
- Shifting interneuron gears in spinal cord
- Glial progenitor fates in the adult brain
- Sensory-motor integration in whisking rats
Current issue
Grown-up glia
Article by Rivers and colleaguesRivers et al. constructed a transgenic mouse to fate-map PDGFRA+ glia in adulthood. These cells generated substantial numbers of late-myelinating oligodendrocytes in the corpus callosum and small numbers of projection neurons, mainly in piriform cortex.
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News and Views by Kang and BerglesCurrent issue
Shifting gears in spinal cord
Article by McLean and colleaguesThe authors show that two completely different classes of spinal premotor interneurons drive motoneurons during slow and fast swimming of zebrafish larvae. As the fish accelerate, the "slow" interneurons are progressively silenced while the "fast" interneurons take over, and vice versa.
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News and Views by El Manira and GrillnerCurrent issue
Movement modulates sensory circuits
Article by Lee and colleaguesIn sedated and whisking rats, Lee et al. show that motor cortex activity enhances sensory processing through a cortico-corticothalamic feedback circuit. In whisking rats, however, inhibitory brainstem input to the thalamus was also enhanced, leading to a net suppression of thalamic sensory responses
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News and Views by AhissarWeb focus
Subtle developmental abnormalities may contribute to mental retardation and psychiatric disorders, and indeed brain "development" continues throughout life. In this Web Focus, we present a collection of papers published over the course of the last year, highlighting the latest progress in the field of CNS development.