Nature Neuroscience - Current issue : November 2009 - Vol 12 No 11
- GPR17 regulation of myelination
- Amyloid plaques in the absence of microglia
- Nucleus basalis and coding of natural scenes
Advance online publication
Experience-dependent dendritic plasticity
Brief Communication by Makara and colleaguesDendritic excitability is a plastic property of neurons. This study shows that exposure to an enriched environment increases propagation of dendritic sodium spikes in a subset of dendritic branches in CA1 pyramidal neurons. This effect is mediated by localized down-regulation of A-type potassium channel function.
Advance online publication
Costs and Benefits
Brief Communication by Phillips and colleaguesCue evoked activity of midbrain dopamine neurons is proposed to encode the magnitude, delay and uncertainty of predicted rewards. Here the authors report that this activity separates costs and benefits, as it does not encode the costs of the action required to obtain predicted rewards.
Advance online publication
Epigenetics of early life stress
Article by Murgatroyd and colleaguesSevere stress in early childhood can increase vulnerability to depression later in life. This work shows early-life stress in mice resulted in persistent elevation of the stress hormone arginine vasopressin (AVP), caused by persistent hypomethylation of CpG islands in the AVP promoter in the hypothalamus.
Advance online publication
Microcircuitry of voluntary movement
Article by Isomura and colleaguesSystematically monitoring the activities of various cortical pyramidal neurons and interneurons during different stages of locomotion, the authors characterize differential firing activities of motor cortex microcircuitry in behaving, head-restraint rats that were trained to push/pull/hold a lever for reward.
Advance online publication
Adult-born glutamatergic interneurons
Article by Brill and colleaguesNeural stem cells in the adult mouse subependymal zone are thought to generate only GABAergic interneurons. This study reports that a dorsal region of the adult subependymal zone generates a glutamatergic type of interneuron. These newborn glutamatergic neurons can be diverted into the injured cortex.
Advance online publication
Cortical dynamic range
Article by Pouille and colleaguesThe cortex is sensitive to weak stimuli but also responds to stronger inputs without saturating. The authors reveal some of the circuits that enable neuronal populations to respond to a wide range of input strengths.
