Neuron

Social interaction in mice suppresses breast cancer progression via a corticoamygdala neural circuit Wen et al. reveal that social interaction reduces breast cancer progression by activating ACCGlu→BLAGlu circuits, inhibiting intratumoral sympathetic activity. This neural mechanism enhances antitumor immunity, offering new therapeutic insights.

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Ion channels in respiratory rhythm generation and sensorimotor integration da Silva Junior et al. review how specific ion channels regulate respiratory rhythm generation and sensorimotor integration. They highlight roles for NALCN, NaV1.6, TRPM4, TASK-2, and PIEZO channels in shaping breathing-related inspiratory neural bursts and encoding sensory feedback.

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Representations of stimulus features in the ventral hippocampus The ventral hippocampus (vHPC) controls emotional response to environmental cues, yet the mechanisms are unclear. Biane et al. examine how positive and negative experiences are encoded by vHPC ensembles, showing that vCA1 does not contain generalized representations of valence but rather discriminates salient stimuli based on their identity and sensory features.

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Attractor dynamics of working memory explain a concurrent evolution of stimulus-specific and decision-consistent biases in visual estimation People exhibit biases when perceiving features of the world, shaped by both external stimuli and prior decisions. By tracking behavioral, neural, and mechanistic markers of stimulus- and decision-related biases, Gu et al. show that working memory’s attractor dynamics—instantaneously updated by decisions—comprehensively explain the growth and interplay of these biases.

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Human brain vascular multi-omics elucidates disease-risk associations Reid et al. develop MultiVINE-seq to map thousands of non-coding disease variants to genes in human brain vascular cells. Cerebrovascular disease variants compromise vessel integrity, whereas Alzheimer’s variants amplify immune activity, notably in T cells. This reveals how vascular genetic variation drives distinct neurological diseases through divergent molecular pathways.

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Neuroanatomical organization of electroacupuncture in modulating gastric function in mice and humans Dong et al. establish that somatic electroacupuncture potentiates gastric motility in a manner critically dependent on both stimulation intensity and needle insertion depth while delineating the underlying neuroanatomical basis comprising somatosensory primary afferents and vagal motor efferents.

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G-protein-coupled receptor ADGRG1 drives a protective microglial state in Alzheimer's disease through MYC activation Microglial ADGRG1 drives a protective state in Alzheimer’s disease by activating the transcription factor MYC, which upregulates genes associated with homeostasis, phagocytosis, and lysosomal functions. This leads to increased Aβ clearance, improved neuronal health, and preserved cognitive function.

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Cell Symposia

Check out the program for #cellpressevents.bsky.social, Neuro-immune axis: Charting the periphery, in partnership with the Allen Discovery Center for Neuroimmune Interactions. Join us NYC for cutting-edge neuroimmune science. http://dlvr.it/TM586m

Dissecting human cortical similarity networks across the lifespan Liang et al. characterize the lifespan maturation of human cortical morphometric networks (0–80 years, 33,937 participants), revealing distinct trajectories between sensory and association cortices. These developmental patterns correlate with functional, metabolic, and transcriptomic profiles. Morphometric network-based normative modeling identifies disorder-specific, connectivity-phenotypic deviations, establishing a quantitative benchmark for assessing individual brain variations.

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Epigenome profiling identifies H3K27me3 regulation of extracellular matrix composition in human corticogenesis Ditzer, Senoglu, et al. report that epigenetic factors of the Polycomb group regulate not only neurogenic gene expression programs but also the composition of the extracellular matrix in the human developing neocortex. Inhibition of Polycomb repressive complex 2 promotes neural progenitor cell differentiation, resulting in smaller brain organoids.

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Forebrain assembloids support the development of fast-spiking human PVALB+ cortical interneurons and uncover schizophrenia-associated defects Walsh et al. establish a human forebrain assembloid protocol that supports the derivation of bona fide PVALB+ cortical interneurons and employ it to model schizophrenia in disease-associated structural variants. The authors identify disease-relevant deficits in cortical interneurons at multiple developmental stages and their ability to regulate network activity, including γ-oscillations.

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Limited transmission of mixed convergent signals at the mouse retinogeniculate synapse Sonoda, Jiang, et al. examine how mixed convergent retinal inputs shape signals in mouse dLGN. Using optogenetics, they find that individual retinal cell types largely dominate postsynaptic responses despite anatomical and functional convergence. This supports a labeled line model of signal transmission, suggesting more conserved principles across mammals than previously suggested.

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Opposing, multiplexed information in lateral and ventral orbitofrontal cortex guides sequential foraging decisions in rats Foraging decisions must balance reward benefits and lost opportunity costs. Cunningham and Redish find that the lateral and ventral orbitofrontal cortices of rats running a serial foraging task contained opposing representations of reward value and opportunity costs, multiplexed with representations of task state, that adapted to economic and motivational factors.

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Accelerating biomedical discoveries in brain health through transformative neuropathology of aging and neurodegeneration Murray et al. introduce “transformative neuropathology” through dynamic, technology-integrated approaches to accelerate tissue-based discoveries and offer actionable strategies to strengthen brain banks, enhance tissue quality, harmonize digital pathology efforts, and apply machine learning in aging and neurodegeneration through cross-disciplinary collaboration.

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The polypharmacology of psychedelics reveals multiple targets for potential therapeutics Jain et al. profiled 41 classical psychedelics across 318 GPCRs, revealing activity at serotonin, dopamine, and adrenergic receptors. All compounds activated multiple 5-HT2AR signal transduction pathways which are linked to their in vivo effects. These findings demonstrate the polypharmacology underlying psychedelic actions and their engagement with diverse molecular signaling pathways.

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How the brain shifts between external and internal attention Nobre and Gresch call for an upgrade of attention research by considering how the brain shifts its focus between contents in the external sensory stream and internal memory representations. They highlight competing hypotheses, review the few experimental attempts and findings, propose candidate neural mechanisms, and identify major open questions.

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Propagating Motor Cortical Dynamics Facilitate Movement Initiation (Neuron 106, 526–536.e1–e4; May 6, 2020)

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LRRTM2 Functions as a Neurexin Ligand in Promoting Excitatory Synapse Formation (Neuron 64, 791–798; December 24, 2009)

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Human stem cell-derived GABAergic interneuron development reveals early emergence of subtype diversity and gradual electrochemical maturation Bershteyn et al. describe the long-term properties of a human stem cell-derived GABAergic interneuron cell therapy candidate undergoing clinical evaluation for drug-resistant epilepsy. Following transplantation into the brains of healthy or epileptic mice, grafted cells demonstrate exceptional purity, differentiation into authentic subtypes, integration with host circuitry, and gradual electrophysiological maturation.

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The new issue is out 👉https://www.cell.com/cell/current

On the cover, three articles from the Mesoscopic Brain Mapping Consortium published with Neuron and Developmental Cell shed light on the cell type diversity and their connectivity in mouse and primate brains.

New issue is out! www.cell.com/neuron/home with 4 papers from the Mesoscopic Brain Mapping Consortium, including the cover art. You can read more about the Consortium and papers published across @cp-cell.bsky.social, Neuron, & @cp-devcell.bsky.social in this commentary: www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...

Selective loss of Scn2a in ventral tegmental area dopaminergic neurons leads to dopamine system hypofunction and autistic-like behaviors SCN2A loss-of-function mutations are a high-risk factor for autism. Li et al. show that selective Scn2a deficiency in VTA dopaminergic neurons or global haploinsufficiency in Scn2a+/− mice causes dopamine system hypofunction. Levodopa treatment at an appropriate dosage can alleviate non-motor autistic-like behaviors, including insufficient anxiety and social deficits.

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Dynamic redistribution of AMPA receptors toward memory-related neuronal ensembles in mice barrel cortex during sensory learning In this study, Li et al. identify sensory engram neurons in the barrel cortex that are recruited in a layer-selective manner. Sensory learning leads to selective enhancements of AMPAR function in synapses between L4 and L2/3 engram neurons, revealing synaptic mechanisms underlying sensory engram formation.

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Distinct dendritic integration strategies control dynamics of inhibition in the neocortex Dendrites critically influence single-neuron computations, but their role in neocortical GABAergic interneurons (INs) remains poorly understood. We fo…

Excited to see our new work on Interneuron Dendrites in
@cp-neuron.bsky.social
sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Kudos to all authors and special thanks to
Nelson_Rebola and his team @institutducerveau.bsky.social for the opportunity and trust to join forces on this amazing research. Congrats!

Spontaneous movements and their relationship to neural activity fluctuate with latent engagement states Yin and Melin et al. show that disengaged decision-making (defined by biased choices) is coupled with higher neural variance, stronger movement-related cortical activity, and less stereotyped spontaneous movement, indicating a deep connection between behavioral states, cognition, and movement.

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Satellite glial cells: Shaping peripheral input into the brain-body axis? Satellite glial cells (SGCs) envelop sensory and sympathetic ganglion neuronal somas. In this review, Meriau et al. discuss the mechanisms underlying SGCs’ modulation of neuronal functions in health and disease and their potential to shape peripheral input to the brain.

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A unifying mechanism for presynaptic homeostatic plasticity at mammalian peripheral and central synapses Chipman and colleagues identify Sema3a-PlexinA4-ITGB1 as a unifying, trans-synaptic signaling mechanism for presynaptic homeostatic plasticity (PHP) at both the cholinergic mouse NMJ and glutamatergic synapses in the adult mouse hippocampus. Hippocampal signaling is necessary for cross-modal inhibitory plasticity and links PHP to a functional and ultrastructural re-organization of synaptic vesicle pools.

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Distinct dendritic integration strategies control dynamics of inhibition in the neocortex Morabito et al. observed that different neocortical interneuron (IN) populations display distinct dendritic properties by varying synaptic receptor composition and input location. These IN-specific dendritic properties enhance synaptic efficiency but are tailored to different temporal processing modes. In the visual cortex, this mechanism supports the distinct dynamics of PV- and SST-INs.

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Excited to share our @cp-neuron.bsky.social ‪‪Spotlight on Dr. Jens Brüning’s latest paper in @cellpress.bsky.social , highlighting PNOC/NPY neurons as new players in the leptin orchestra 🧠🍽️

Read it here: authors.elsevier.com/a/1lHqA3BtfH...

Original article: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...