Neuron
Neuron publishes ground-breaking research papers, reviews & commentary across neuroscience and is a premier intellectual forum for the neuroscience community.
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A neural circuit framework for economic choice: From building blocks of valuation to compositionality in multitasking
Battista et al. use biologically plausible RNNs to uncover the circuit mechanisms of economic choice. They propose a two-stage framework where feedforward inputs compute offer values and recurrent inhibition drives comparison. This architecture explains how the brain generalizes preferences and multitasks using compositional neural codes, offering a unified theory of decision-making.dlvr.itC9orf72 hexanucleotide repeat RNA drives transcriptional dysregulation through genome-wide DNA:RNA hybrid G-quadruplexes
Liu et al. demonstrate that expanded C9orf72 G4C2 repeat RNAs bind gene promoters across the genome and form HQ structures with DNA. These structures obstruct key transcription machinery, repress gene expression, and heighten neuronal vulnerability, providing mechanistic insights into neurodegeneration in ALS and FTD.dlvr.itSynapse-specific and plasticity-regulated AMPA receptor mobility tunes synaptic integration
Short-term plasticity (STP) filters synaptic inputs across rapid timescales. Nowacka et al. show that postsynaptic AMPAR desensitization and diffusion-trapping, shaped by auxiliary subunits and activity-dependent signaling, generate synapse-specific gain control. By broadening temporal filtering and adjusting short-term depression, receptor mobility emerges as a central regulator of circuit information processing.dlvr.it- New issue of Neuron is out today. On the cover, a group from Fourth Military Medical University in Xi’an, China identify a novel C5aR1+ microglial subtype in human cerebral edema after brain injury.
Issue: Neuron
cell.comHippocampal estrogen levels, receptor types, and epigenetics contribute to sex-specific memory vulnerabilities to concurrent acute stresses
Acute concurrent stresses provoke lasting, sex-dependent memory problems. Hokenson, Rodríguez-Acevedo, et al. find that high hippocampal estrogen levels in mice generate permissive chromatin states, allowing both adaptive plasticity and vulnerability to acute concurrent stresses. Stress vulnerability involves estrogen receptor (ER)α in males and ERβ in females.dlvr.itIdentification of an engram ensemble mediating memory forgetting in the dentate gyrus
Hu et al. show that the dentate gyrus engram comprises two neuronal ensembles: one supports remembering, and the other promotes forgetting. By shifting the balance between these ensembles via Rac1 signaling, the brain flexibly controls recall. Dysfunctions of the forgetting ensemble contribute to memory abnormalities in models of Alzheimer’s disease and autism.dlvr.itGranular motivational interaction and behavioral choice during feeding
Liu et al. propose the theoretical framework “granular motivational interaction orchestrates real-time behavioral choice,” exploring the dynamic interactions of granular motivational states in the feeding process, their neural bases, disrupting factors, and implications for understanding intelligence and psychiatric disorders.dlvr.itConverging dopamine pathways onto basolateral amygdala neurons encode exploration decisions
Using mouse models, Zheng et al. show that social engagement promotes both innate and experience-dependent exploration. Dopaminergic neurons in the ventral tegmental area (VTA) encode risk assessment and exploratory motivation through firing pattern-biased DA transmission, thereby shaping exploration decisions via competing VTADA pathways that converge onto basolateral amygdala neurons.dlvr.itA mesoscale optogenetics system for precise and robust stimulation of the primate cortex
Li et al. present a microLED-based mesoscale optogenetic system for centimeter-scale, million-pixel primate cortical stimulation. Optogenetically evoked saccades with accurate retinotopic organization remain stable for over a year, demonstrating precise, robust, and durable neuromodulation and charting a path toward next-generation optical brain-computer interfaces and visual prostheses.dlvr.it
