Review Articles in 2013

The histaminergic neuromodulatory system has important roles in in the regulation of cognition, sleep and wakefulness, and feeding and energy balance. In this Review, Panula and Nuutinen briefly explore histamine's physiological functions before focusing on its roles in various brain disorders.

Acid-sensing ion channels (ASICs) have been implicated in pain, and neurological and psychiatric disease. Wemmieet al. provide an update on the roles of ASICs in health and disease, and consider the implications for therapy and future lines of research.

Chronic pain is associated with changes in brain structure and function resulting in altered cognition and affect. Bushnellet al. examine the mechanisms underlying the psychological modulation of pain and the potential of mind–body therapies to alleviate chronic pain.

Research in multisensory processing has exploded in recent years, but different experimental and theoretical approaches have yielded conflicting or seemingly unrelated results. In this Review, Fetschet al. present a body of work that attempts to integrate and accommodate these findings.

The subunit composition of NMDA receptors (NMDARs) determines their biophysical, pharmacological and signalling properties. Paolettiet al.examine the contribution of individual receptor subtypes to normal physiology and disease, and the potential benefits of targeting specific NMDAR subtypes to counteract the deleterious effects of deregulated glutamatergic transmission.

Synaptic dysfunction is a key pathophysiological hallmark in several neurodegenerative disorders. In this Review, Lu and colleagues consider a 'synaptic repair'-based therapy for neurodegenerative diseases that targets pathophysiology rather than pathogenesis and discuss BDNF as a potential synaptic repair molecule.

Contexts provide information that is central to understanding the meaning of events. Maren and colleagues describe the neural systems that underlie context processing and consider how deficits in these systems may be involved in several psychiatric conditions.

Many findings in recent years have shed light on the process of epileptogenesis, whereby the brain becomes predisposed to seizures, but this process is still not well understood. Goldberg and Coulter review several important themes in this research and conclude that they point towards a circuit-level explanation of epileptogenesis.

One of the roles of astrocytes in the brain is to regulate the formation, maturation, function and elimination of synapses and thereby to support the formation of appropriate neural circuits. Clarke and Barres review our current understanding of these vital processes and highlight unanswered questions for future research.

Vision is an active process. Higher-order cognitive influences, including attention, expectation and perceptual task, as well as motor signals, are fed into the sensory apparatus. This enables neurons to dynamically tune their receptive field properties to carry information that is relevant for executing the current behavioural tasks.

Inter-individual differences in the thickness or volume of a brain region often co-vary with inter-individual differences in other brain regions. Alexander-Bloch, Giedd and Bullmore discuss this phenomenon of structural co-variance, its underlying mechanisms and its potential value in the understanding of various brain disorders.

Corticostriatal pathways consist of two distinct classes of cortical pyramidal cells: intratelencephalic and pyramidal tract neurons. In this Review, Shepherd explains how changes in the functional properties of these neurons result in an imbalance in activity that contributes to a wide variety of neurological disorders.

Myosins II, V and VI are actin-based cytoskeletal motors that have specific pre- and postsynaptic roles. Kneussel and Wagner review their diverse functions, which include the regulation of actin cytoskeleton dynamics in dendritic spines and powering of synaptic cargo transport.

The aquaporins (AQPs) are a family of integral membrane proteins that are involved in water movement across cell membranes. In this Review, Papadopoulos and Verkman examine the roles of AQPs in the functioning of the mammalian nervous system and in various neurological conditions.

In this Review, Robberecht and Philips provide a comprehensive summary of the current understanding of the causes and mechanisms underlying the pathogenesis of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). The emerging phenotypic heterogeneity of this neurodegenerative disease is leading to the concept that the term ALS covers several conditions and not just one disease.

Attention can enhance performance in tasks that involve the visual system's spatial resolution. In this Review, Anton-Erxleben and Carrasco propose a framework that seeks to explain this effect and that also has implications for the representation of spatial information.

The distal axon and soma of a neuron may be a considerable distance apart, but they are still required to efficiently communicate with each other. In this Review, Harrington and Ginty examine how long-distance retrograde growth factor signalling is achieved between these compartments and its functions.

Defects in axonal transport are a feature of various neurodegenerative disorders. In this article, Millecamps and Julien provide an overview of the components of the microtubule-based axonal transport system, before examining how defects in this system might cause or influence neurodegeneration in various diseases.

Microsaccades are small, rapid eye movements that occur when we are attempting to fix our gaze on one spot. Martinez-Condeet al. review the physiology and functions of microsaccades and conclude that they form part of a continuum with larger saccades.

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a leading cause of mortality and morbidity in humans, but the therapeutic options for TBI are limited. Xionget al. critically review animal models of TBI and discuss how studies involving such models could be improved to develop more-effective TBI treatments.