Nature Reviews Neuroscience

Bridging the gap between theories of sensory cue integration and the physiology of multisensory neurons.

Publication Date: 2013 Jun PMID: 23686172
Authors: Fetsch, C. R. - Deangelis, G. C. - Angelaki, D. E.
Journal: Nat Rev Neurosci

The richness of perceptual experience, as well as its usefulness for guiding behaviour, depends on the synthesis of information across multiple senses. Recent decades have witnessed a surge in our understanding of how the brain combines sensory cues. Much of this research has been guided by one of two distinct approaches: one is driven primarily by neurophysiological observations, and the other is guided by principles of mathematical psychology and psychophysics. Conflicting results and interpretations have contributed to a conceptual gap between psychophysical and physiological accounts of cue integration, but recent studies of visual-vestibular cue integration have narrowed this gap considerably.

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NMDA receptor subunit diversity: impact on receptor properties, synaptic plasticity and disease.

Publication Date: 2013 Jun PMID: 23686171
Authors: Paoletti, P. - Bellone, C. - Zhou, Q.
Journal: Nat Rev Neurosci

NMDA receptors (NMDARs) are glutamate-gated ion channels and are crucial for neuronal communication. NMDARs form tetrameric complexes that consist of several homologous subunits. The subunit composition of NMDARs is plastic, resulting in a large number of receptor subtypes. As each receptor subtype has distinct biophysical, pharmacological and signalling properties, there is great interest in determining whether individual subtypes carry out specific functions in the CNS in both normal and pathological conditions. Here, we review the effects of subunit composition on NMDAR properties, synaptic plasticity and cellular mechanisms implicated in neuropsychiatric disorders. Understanding the rules and roles of NMDAR diversity could provide new therapeutic strategies against dysfunctions of glutamatergic transmission.

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Auditory system: Sound choices.

Publication Date: 2013 Jun PMID: 23686170
Authors: Yates, D.
Journal: Nat Rev Neurosci

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Metabolism: Flavours of value.

Publication Date: 2013 Jun PMID: 23686169
Authors: Welberg, L.
Journal: Nat Rev Neurosci

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Neuroimaging: Evaluating ads with fMRI.

Publication Date: 2013 Jun PMID: 23686168
Authors: Welberg, L.
Journal: Nat Rev Neurosci

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Psychiatric disorders: Astrocytic ATP in depression.

Publication Date: 2013 Jun PMID: 23686167
Authors: Welberg, L.
Journal: Nat Rev Neurosci

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Visual processing: Area V4 in motion.

Publication Date: 2013 Jun PMID: 23686166
Authors: Welberg, L.
Journal: Nat Rev Neurosci

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Synaptic transmission: Summer blues.

Publication Date: 2013 Jun PMID: 23674055
Authors: Flight, M. H.
Journal: Nat Rev Neurosci

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Sensory systems: Encoding aversion.

Publication Date: 2013 Jun PMID: 23674054
Authors: Whalley, K.
Journal: Nat Rev Neurosci

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BDNF-based synaptic repair as a disease-modifying strategy for neurodegenerative diseases.

Publication Date: 2013 Jun PMID: 23674053
Authors: Lu, B. - Nagappan, G. - Guan, X. - Nathan, P. J. - Wren, P.
Journal: Nat Rev Neurosci

Increasing evidence suggests that synaptic dysfunction is a key pathophysiological hallmark in neurodegenerative disorders, including Alzheimer's disease. Understanding the role of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) in synaptic plasticity and synaptogenesis, the impact of the BDNF Val66Met polymorphism in Alzheimer's disease-relevant endophenotypes - including episodic memory and hippocampal volume - and the technological progress in measuring synaptic changes in humans all pave the way for a 'synaptic repair' therapy for neurodegenerative diseases that targets pathophysiology rather than pathogenesis. This article reviews the key issues in translating BDNF biology into synaptic repair therapies.

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Circadian rhythms: Temperature training.

Publication Date: 2013 Jun PMID: 23657558
Authors: Whalley, K.
Journal: Nat Rev Neurosci

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Neuroimaging: Detecting consciousness in infants.

Publication Date: 2013 Jun PMID: 23657557
Authors: Whalley, K.
Journal: Nat Rev Neurosci

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Techniques: CLARITY in imaging.

Publication Date: 2013 Jun PMID: 23657556
Authors: Whalley, K.
Journal: Nat Rev Neurosci

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Learning and memory: Learning with peaks and troughs.

Publication Date: 2013 Jun PMID: 23657555
Authors: Welberg, L.
Journal: Nat Rev Neurosci

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Neural transplantation: Reprogramming fibroblasts to OPCs.

Publication Date: 2013 Jun PMID: 23657554
Authors: Whalley, K.
Journal: Nat Rev Neurosci

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Spatial processing: Place cells as route planners.

Publication Date: 2013 Jun PMID: 23657553
Authors: Yates, D.
Journal: Nat Rev Neurosci

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Neuroendocrinology: Hypothalamic self-tuning to stress.

Publication Date: 2013 Jun PMID: 23635873
Authors: Welberg, L.
Journal: Nat Rev Neurosci

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Pain: Feeling the heat (and cold).

Publication Date: 2013 Jun PMID: 23635872
Authors: Lewis, S.
Journal: Nat Rev Neurosci

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Sleep and the single neuron: the role of global slow oscillations in individual cell rest.

Publication Date: 2013 Jun PMID: 23635871
Authors: Vyazovskiy, V. V. - Harris, K. D.
Journal: Nat Rev Neurosci

Sleep is universal in animals, but its specific functions remain elusive. We propose that sleep's primary function is to allow individual neurons to perform prophylactic cellular maintenance. Just as muscle cells must rest after strenuous exercise to prevent long-term damage, brain cells must rest after intense synaptic activity. We suggest that periods of reduced synaptic input ('off periods' or 'down states') are necessary for such maintenance. This in turn requires a state of globally synchronized neuronal activity, reduced sensory input and behavioural immobility - the well-known manifestations of sleep.

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The contextual brain: implications for fear conditioning, extinction and psychopathology.

Publication Date: 2013 Jun PMID: 23635870
Authors: Maren, S. - Phan, K. L. - Liberzon, I.
Journal: Nat Rev Neurosci

Contexts surround and imbue meaning to events; they are essential for recollecting the past, interpreting the present and anticipating the future. Indeed, the brain's capacity to contextualize information permits enormous cognitive and behavioural flexibility. Studies of Pavlovian fear conditioning and extinction in rodents and humans suggest that a neural circuit including the hippocampus, amygdala and medial prefrontal cortex is involved in the learning and memory processes that enable context-dependent behaviour. Dysfunction in this network may be involved in several forms of psychopathology, including post-traumatic stress disorder, schizophrenia and substance abuse disorders.

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Visual processing: Eye-opening reorganization.

Publication Date: 2013 May PMID: 23598725
Authors: Yates, D.
Journal: Nat Rev Neurosci

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Neural induction: Switching on new neurons.

Publication Date: 2013 May PMID: 23595017
Authors: Jones, R.
Journal: Nat Rev Neurosci

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Mechanisms of epileptogenesis: a convergence on neural circuit dysfunction.

Publication Date: 2013 May PMID: 23595016
Authors: Goldberg, E. M. - Coulter, D. A.
Journal: Nat Rev Neurosci

Epilepsy is a prevalent neurological disorder associated with significant morbidity and mortality, but the only available drug therapies target its symptoms rather than the underlying cause. The process that links brain injury or other predisposing factors to the subsequent emergence of epilepsy is termed epileptogenesis. Substantial research has focused on elucidating the mechanisms of epileptogenesis so as to identify more specific targets for intervention, with the hope of preventing epilepsy before seizures emerge. Recent work has yielded important conceptual advances in this field. We suggest that such insights into the mechanisms of epileptogenesis converge at the level of cortical circuit dysfunction.

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Addiction: Turning down drug-seeking.

Publication Date: 2013 May PMID: 23595015
Authors: Jones, R.
Journal: Nat Rev Neurosci

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Emerging roles of astrocytes in neural circuit development.

Publication Date: 2013 May PMID: 23595014
Authors: Clarke, L. E. - Barres, B. A.
Journal: Nat Rev Neurosci

Astrocytes are now emerging as key participants in many aspects of brain development, function and disease. In particular, new evidence shows that astrocytes powerfully control the formation, maturation, function and elimination of synapses through various secreted and contact-mediated signals. Astrocytes are also increasingly being implicated in the pathophysiology of many psychiatric and neurological disorders that result from synaptic defects. A better understanding of how astrocytes regulate neural circuit development and function in the healthy and diseased brain might lead to the development of therapeutic agents to treat these diseases.

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Top-down influences on visual processing.

Publication Date: 2013 May PMID: 23595013
Authors: Gilbert, C. D. - Li, W.
Journal: Nat Rev Neurosci

Re-entrant or feedback pathways between cortical areas carry rich and varied information about behavioural context, including attention, expectation, perceptual tasks, working memory and motor commands. Neurons receiving such inputs effectively function as adaptive processors that are able to assume different functional states according to the task being executed. Recent data suggest that the selection of particular inputs, representing different components of an association field, enable neurons to take on different functional roles. In this Review, we discuss the various top-down influences exerted on the visual cortical pathways and highlight the dynamic nature of the receptive field, which allows neurons to carry information that is relevant to the current perceptual demands.

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Cortical physiology: Studying waves up close.

Publication Date: 2013 May PMID: 23595012
Authors: Jones, R.
Journal: Nat Rev Neurosci

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Neurodegenerative disease: Oligodendrocyte loss in ALS.

Publication Date: 2013 May PMID: 23595011
Authors: Jones, R.
Journal: Nat Rev Neurosci

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Neuronal circuits: Piecing together anxiety.

Publication Date: 2013 May PMID: 23595010
Authors: Yates, D.
Journal: Nat Rev Neurosci

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Synaptic physiology: Phosphoinositides at the synapse.

Publication Date: 2013 May PMID: 23595009
Authors: Jones, R.
Journal: Nat Rev Neurosci

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Sleep: Count backwards from ten...

Publication Date: 2013 May PMID: 23571846
Authors: Lewis, S.
Journal: Nat Rev Neurosci

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Power failure: why small sample size undermines the reliability of neuroscience.

Publication Date: 2013 May PMID: 23571845
Authors: Button, K. S. - Ioannidis, J. P. - Mokrysz, C. - Nosek, B. A. - Flint, J. - Robinson, E. S. - Munafo, M. R.
Journal: Nat Rev Neurosci

A study with low statistical power has a reduced chance of detecting a true effect, but it is less well appreciated that low power also reduces the likelihood that a statistically significant result reflects a true effect. Here, we show that the average statistical power of studies in the neurosciences is very low. The consequences of this include overestimates of effect size and low reproducibility of results. There are also ethical dimensions to this problem, as unreliable research is inefficient and wasteful. Improving reproducibility in neuroscience is a key priority and requires attention to well-established but often ignored methodological principles.

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Pain: A phantom experience.

Publication Date: 2013 May PMID: 23571844
Authors: Lewis, S.
Journal: Nat Rev Neurosci

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Neurodegenerative disease: Hunting out the NUB1 of the matter.

Publication Date: 2013 May PMID: 23571843
Authors: Flight, M. H.
Journal: Nat Rev Neurosci

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Attention: Attention all neurons...

Publication Date: 2013 May PMID: 23571842
Authors: Lewis, S.
Journal: Nat Rev Neurosci

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Decision making: Malice aforethought?

Publication Date: 2013 May PMID: 23571841
Authors: Lewis, S.
Journal: Nat Rev Neurosci

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Learning and memory: Remembrance of things similar...

Publication Date: 2013 May PMID: 23558970
Authors: Jones, R.
Journal: Nat Rev Neurosci

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Addiction: Craving: a core issue.

Publication Date: 2013 May PMID: 23531698
Authors: Welberg, L.
Journal: Nat Rev Neurosci

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Imaging structural co-variance between human brain regions.

Publication Date: 2013 May PMID: 23531697
Authors: Alexander-Bloch, A. - Giedd, J. N. - Bullmore, E.
Journal: Nat Rev Neurosci

Brain structure varies between people in a markedly organized fashion. Communities of brain regions co-vary in their morphological properties. For example, cortical thickness in one region influences the thickness of structurally and functionally connected regions. Such networks of structural co-variance partially recapitulate the functional networks of healthy individuals and the foci of grey matter loss in neurodegenerative disease. This architecture is genetically heritable, is associated with behavioural and cognitive abilities and is changed systematically across the lifespan. The biological meaning of this structural co-variance remains controversial, but it appears to reflect developmental coordination or synchronized maturation between areas of the brain. This Review discusses the state of current research into brain structural co-variance, its underlying mechanisms and its potential value in the understanding of various neurological and psychiatric conditions.

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Plasticity: The benefits of a novel environment.

Publication Date: 2013 May PMID: 23531696
Authors: Flight, M. H.
Journal: Nat Rev Neurosci

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