Brain Surfaces of 70 primate species

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To predict the behaviour of a primate, would you rather base your guess on a closely related species or one with a similar brain shape? We looked at brains & behaviours of 70 species, you’ll be surprised!

🧵Thread on our new preprint with @r3rt0.bsky.social , doi.org/10.1101/2025...

Alcool et nicotine : un même circuit cérébral à l’origine de la récompense et de l’anxiété

👋 @cnrs-paris.bsky.social @espciparispsl.bsky.social
✍️ @faurelab.bsky.social & Fabio Marti
👉 Lire l'article dans buff.ly/vE1j6LP
buff.ly/fD5DOxu

Congratulations to first author Tinaïg Le Borgne for her outstanding work and Fabio marti for leading this project. Many thanks as well to our collaborators across @espciparispsl.bsky.social , @cnrsbiologie.bsky.social, @sorbonne-universite.fr and beyond!

Nicotine and alcohol seem very different, but they converge on the same circuit. Both activate NAc-projecting dopamine neurons and inhibit those projecting to the amygdala. We show that this shared loop shapes reward and emotion, helping explain their high co-use.

A circuit-level explanation for nicotine’s dual impact: Nicotine activates VTA→NAc dopamine neurons (reward), but this comes at a cost: It triggers a GABAergic feedback loop that inhibits VTA→amygdala neurons (emotion).
One drug, the dopaminergic circuits, 2 effects: reinforcement + negative affect.

Nicotine engages a VTA-NAc feedback loop to inhibit amygdala-projecting dopamine neurons and induce anxiety-like behaviors - Nature Communications Drugs of abuse exert both motivational and emotional effects. Here, the authors show that nicotine and ethanol activate a VTA–NAc loop that inhibits dopamine neurons projecting to the amygdala, thereb...

Nicotine doesn’t just “turn on” the brain’s reward circuits — it reshapes them. Our new paper in Nature Communications shows that activating reward-linked dopamine neurons also sets off a feedback loop that drives negative emotional states.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Slowing the drive: A new regulatory break for nicotine reward-related behaviors In this issue of Neuron, Jehl et al. developed a “suicide” antagonist to demonstrate that the interpeduncular nucleus acts as a regulatory controller of nicotine reward-related behavior through connec...

Our work on the role of the interpeduncular nucleus in nicotine reward ( www.cell.com/neuron/abstr... ) is featured in a Neuron Preview ! Brandon J Henderson highlights how a new regulatory circuit controlling nicotine reinforcement has been uncovered. www.cell.com/neuron/abstr...

Yesss! So happy to see this, totally deserved!

Embodiment of an artificial limb in mice Body ownership disorders can be triggered by disease or body damage in humans. This study shows, using an automated, videography-based procedure, that mice also display quantifiable behavioral markers...

Our work on rubber hand embodiment in mice is out @plosbiology.org! We show that just like in humans, visuo-tactile pairing can lead mice to an embodiment-like behavior with respect to an artificial limb.

Direct and indirect striatal projecting neurons exert strategy-dependent effects on decision-making In the dorsomedial striatum, d-SPNs increase risk seeking, while iSPNs amplify the value of large gains in decision making.

Nouvel article avec mes ami-es belges E. Chaves et A. de Kerchove où on décrit l'effet de l'activation de populations de neurones du striatum sur les stratégies de décision. On a essayé de sortir d'une définition "par l'expérimentateur" de la performance des souris.

www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Sequential and independent probabilistic events regulate differential axon targeting during development in Drosophila melanogaster Nature Neuroscience - The developmental origin of behavioral individuality is unclear. The authors show that a temporal sequence of genetically encoded stochastic mechanisms explains variation in...

Hot off the press:
The excellent Maheva Andriatsilavo and colleagues show how a temporal sequence of stochastic molecular mechanisms allow the emergence of stereotyped individualised neuronal circuits. Just published in Nature Neuroscience:
rdcu.be/ek010

I have an opening in my lab for a postdoctoral fellow to work on projects that relate to the mechanisms of neurotransmitter release by dopamine neurons and/or on how inflammatory signals infuence the functionning of these neurons. Please share.

free access here authors.elsevier.com/c/1kzRE3BtfH...

Congrat J. Jehl, M. Ciscato, E. Vicq & @nicolasguyon.bsky.social . Thanks to our amazing team, and collaborators! @cnrsbiologie.bsky.social , @inserm.fr , @sorbonne-universite.fr , @espciparispsl.bsky.social , @institutpasteur.bsky.social, @frm-officiel.bsky.social

This was made possible by a new chemogenetic method: a covalently tethered suicide antagonist for β4* nAChRs. Sustained, subtype-specific silencing in vivo, with single-site precision. A method developed by Alexandre Mourot in the lab @faurelab.bsky.social

The interpeduncular nucleus blunts the rewarding effect of nicotine Nicotine activates the dopamine reward system to promote consumption and addiction, but the brain has a natural brake to counteract it. Jehl, Ciscato, Vicq, Guyon, et al. identified the interpeduncula...

The interpeduncular nucleus (IPN) dampens nicotine reward via β4* nAChRs and IPN→LDTg projections. Blocking this pathway enhances VTA responses and CPP: A nicotine-specific brake embedded in the mesolimbic system.
New paper from the lab out in @cp-neuron.bsky.social www.cell.com/neuron/abstr...

Registrations for the Symposium for the Biology of decision making (SBDM) in Lyon 2025 are finally open! sbdm2025.github.io Please spread the message!

Social structures are dynamic: manipulating dopamine activity reshapes role distribution, confirming a feedback loop where social context modulates neural states, which in turn reinforce specialization.

A reinforcement learning model reveals how competition for ressources drives behavioral specialization, with varying degrees of exploitation shaping social roles development and driving sex differences.

Neural and computational analyses during the task reveal that dopaminergic activity in the ventral tegmental area (VTA) plays a key role in stabilizing social roles.

Males exhibit clear divisions of labor, where worker-scrounger equilibria emerge from competitive dynamics. In contrast, females adopt more uniform & cooperative behaviors. These sex-specific differences arise only in group contexts—when tested alone, males and females show only subtle differences!

How do animals self-organize into structured societies? Using behavioral tracking, neural recordings, and reinforcement learning models, we show that small groups of isogenic mice spontaneously develop specialized roles.

Dopaminergic mechanisms of dynamical social specialization in mouse microsocieties Social organization and division of labor are fundamental to animal societies, but how do these structures emerge from individual interactions, and what role does neuromodulation play in shaping them?...

New preprint from the lab and @clementsolie.bsky.social on social organization & neuromodulation! Read the full preprint here: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... @espciparispsl.bsky.social @cnrsbiologie.bsky.social

Dopamine builds and reveals reward-associated latent behavioral attractors - Nature Communications The reason why manipulating dopamine (DA) activity can affect both action latency, action direction, and movement vigor, but only in certain animal states and behavioral settings is not fully understo...

This is one of my favourite papers for a while.
Theoretically informed, technically accomplished, well-written and argued, articulates explanation 👏
By @jeremie-n.bsky.social and colleagues.
I would love to teach it but it may be a lot...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Memory with a little H2O2 help from astrocyte friends - Nature Metabolism Rabah et al. elegantly show that, in Drosophila, astrocytes signal to neurons with hydrogen peroxide to encode memories. This redox-based communication is disrupted by amyloid-β, a mechanism that pote...

And the News & Views www.nature.com/articles/s42...

Astrocyte-to-neuron H2O2 signalling supports long-term memory formation in Drosophila and is impaired in an Alzheimer’s disease model - Nature Metabolism Rabah et al. discover an astrocyte-to-neuron hydrogen peroxide signalling cascade, which is crucial for long-term memory formation in Drosophila. This signalling is found to be inhibited by amyloid-β ...

Superb study from Thomas Preat's team here @espciparispsl.bsky.social @cnrsbiologie.bsky.social , showing that astrocytes use redox H₂O₂ signaling to support memory in Drosophila. Amyloid-β disrupts this process, linking it to cognitive deficits in Alzheimer’s. www.nature.com/articles/s42...

De l’apprentissage à l’action : la dopamine révèle nos apprentissages cachés La dopamine, une molécule clé dans le cerveau, est essentielle à l’

#RésultatScientifique🔎Comment la dopamine peut-elle orchestrer à la fois l’apprentissage et la motivation ? @jeremie-n.bsky.social propose une réponse à cette question dans @naturecomms.bsky.social ⤵️

🤝 @cnrsoccitanieest.bsky.social @umontpellier.bsky.social @cnrsinformatics.bsky.social

A view of Saint-Anne hospital in Paris

🚨 !!! Postdoc Position Available !!! 🚨

Join our team at the Neuromodulation Institute (Hôpital St-Anne) in Paris, France. Work on cutting-edge research involving voltammetric recordings in human patients and machine learning.
🧠🟦 / 🧠🤖 / 🧠🩺
#AcademicSky #postdoc

By combining detailed biophy models with reduced theoretical ones, we could visualize the latent attractor dynamics DA creates and predict their effects on behavior. This lets us connect complex neural dynamics to action, opening the way for experimental testing and validation.

Our model suggests that DA’s role in goal seeking is context-dependent and dynamic, linking motivation to learning.