Review Articles in 2017

Small-molecule–neuropeptide co-transmission is pervasive throughout the nervous system of all animals. In this Review, Nusbaum, Blitz and Marder discuss how co-transmission is an important source for the considerable flexibility that has been established for synapses, circuits and behaviour.

Parkinson disease is often characterized as a disorder of movement; however, it is also associated with many non-motor features, some of which appear early in the disease course. In this article, Schapira and colleagues provide an overview of these diverse features and their neurobiological basis.

How does sleep deprivation affect the human brain? Walker and colleagues review neuroimaging studies on the consequences of sleep deprivation on cognition and emotion — with specific focuses on attention and working memory, positive and negative emotion, and hippocampal learning — and the mechanisms underlying these effects.

Sirtuins and the neuron–microglia network have a key role in the ageing process. In this Review article, Satoh and colleagues discuss the role of sirtuins in age-related changes in communication between peripheral tissues and the brain, which has a key influence on ageing and longevity in mammals.

The contribution of epigenetics to many aspects of neuronal development and function is becoming apparent. In this Review, Zukin and colleagues describe how the dysregulation of epigenetic mechanisms may contribute to neurodegenerative diseases.

Cerebral blood flow regulation is essential for normal brain function. In this Review, Kisler and colleagues examine the cellular and molecular mechanisms that underlie cerebral blood flow regulation at the arteriole and capillary level, and how neurovascular dysfunction contributes to neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer disease.

In this Review, Anacker and Hen explore how regulation of dentate gyrus function by adult hippocampal neurogenesis may link the memory and mood functions of the hippocampus. They also examine the potential of targeting such regulation for mood disorders.

Our growing understanding of cortical interneuron diversity has been matched by increasing interest in the underlying developmental mechanisms. Wamsley and Fishell describe current models of interneuron specification, highlighting the contribution of activity-dependent mechanisms to this process.

Amyloid precursor protein (APP) has been heavily implicated in Alzheimer disease, but the physiological roles of APP and the related APP-like proteins (APLPs) remain less well understood. This Review examines the functions of the APP family and its fragments in CNS development, synaptic function, brain injury and ageing.

Stroke survivors often adapt to the loss of upper-limb function by adopting compensatory strategies. Jones discusses evidence that these compensatory strategies may influence the neural remodelling processes that occur after the initial stroke and can have mixed effects on functional outcome of the paretic limb.

Kinetic models of NMDA receptor activation derived from single-molecule observations explain the biologically salient features of the excitatory current as a dynamic sequence of quasi-stable receptor states. In this Review, Iacobucci and Popescu discuss how these models will help to match emerging atomic structures with biologically important functional states.

Optogenetics is widely used to study the consequences of neuronal activity with high spatiotemporal precision. In this Review, Kimet al. discuss the integration of this approach with other technological and methodological advances to gain insights into neuronal function that were previously inaccessible.

The circuitry of the hippocampal CA3 region has long been hypothesized to be well suited to the storage of memories. Mulle and colleagues provide an update on the known types and mechanisms of synaptic plasticity in CA3 and describe evidence for their roles in memory formation and retrieval.

The experience of controlling our own actions is an important feature of human mental life. The processes giving rise to this experience are thought to be disrupted in some psychiatric disorders. In this article, Haggard describes recent developments in our understanding of the cognitive processes and neural mechanisms underlying the sense of agency.

Impulsivity comes in various forms, with some forms considered more or less advantageous than others. Dalley and Robbins review the different types of impulsivity and their underlying neural mechanisms, and comment on the applicability of measures of impulsivity in research into psychiatric disorders.

Mutations in the genes encoding the SH3 and multiple ankyrin repeat domains protein (SHANK) family have been linked to autism spectrum disorder, driving a wave of recent studies that aimed to dissect their functional roles in the brain. Monteiro and Feng describe recent findings that have begun to shed light on the important roles of SHANK proteins at the synapse.

Micro-connectomics involves determining the principles of how neuronal networks are organized at the cellular level. In this Review, Schröter, Paulsen and Bullmore examine studies that have provided insight into the network organization of relatively small, as well as more complex, nervous systems.

Lewy pathology (LP) and neuronal death in clinical Parkinson disease (cPD) have been attributed to the simple spread of misfolded α-synuclein. Surmeieret al. show that the pattern of pathology in cPD is not consistent with this simple model, suggesting that cell-autonomous factors also contribute to pathogenesis.

Neurons in the ventral tegmental area (VTA) are highly heterogeneous and project to a range of different brain regions. Morales and Margolis summarize recent efforts to characterise VTA neurons, dissect their circuitry and understand their roles in motivation- and reward-related behaviours.