Hot off the presses! Feb 01

The Feb 01 issue of the is now up on Pubget (About ): if you're at a subscribing institution, just click the link in the latest link at the home page. (Note you'll only be able to get all the PDFs in the issue if your institution subscribes to Pubget.)

Latest Articles Include:

• From the editors
  - Nature Reviews Neuroscience 11(2):71 (2010)
  In order to maintain proper brain function, neural activity often needs to be tightly coordinated within neuronal ensembles and across different brain regions. In this issue, three articles highlight new concepts that help to explain the functional importance of this coordination and how it is achieved.
• Synaptogenesis: A new partner for neurexins
  - Nature Reviews Neuroscience 11(2):72 (2010)
  Synapse formation is driven by a host of different cell adhesion molecules. One of the most recent to be identified is leucine-rich repeat transmembrane neuronal protein 2 (LRRTM2).
• Neural coding: Predictive power
  - Nature Reviews Neuroscience 11(2):73 (2010)
  Recording from populations (ensembles) of neurons is a popular approach for researchers aiming to understand neural coding. But how well does neuronal ensemble activity predict the activity of individual neurons?
• Axon guidance: A developmental switch
  - Nature Reviews Neuroscience 11(2):73 (2010)
  Several axon guidance molecules can exert either attractive or repulsive actions on neurons depending on the neuron type, age or signalling pathway that they trigger. For example, the intracellular levels of cyclic AMP, which decrease as neurons mature, determine whether netrin 1 and myelin-associated glycoprotein (MAG) induce attraction or repulsion towards a target.
• Neurodegenerative disorders: Reconnect with microRNA
  - Nature Reviews Neuroscience 11(2):74 (2010)
  Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a progressive neurological disease that is associated with degeneration of motor neurons, causing muscle atrophy and, ultimately, paralysis. There is currently no treatment for ALS, but Williams et al.
• Neurodegeneration: Export disrupts transport
  - Nature Reviews Neuroscience 11(2):74 (2010)
  In many demyelinating diseases neurons show axonal damage and impaired axonal transport. However, it is not established whether there is a causal link between the two and what the molecular mechanism underlying such a link might be.
• Neuronal Networks: A hub of activity
  - Nature Reviews Neuroscience 11(2):74 (2010)
  During development, coordinated activation of neuronal assemblies is essential for the establishment of proper network wiring. Theoretically, a few highly connected neurons with long-ranging connectivity, called 'hub neurons', would be the most efficient way to orchestrate network-wide synchronicity, but the existence of such cells had not been proven.
• In brief: Visual system, Neuropeptides, Social neuroscience, Neurodegenerative disease
  - Nature Reviews Neuroscience 11(2):75 (2010)
  Direct rod input to cone BCs and direct cone input to rod BCs challenge the traditional view of mammalian BC circuitry Pang, J. -J.et al. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 107, 395–400 (2010)
• Fear: A window of opportunity
  - Nature Reviews Neuroscience 11(2):76 (2010)
  Although fear is an adaptive response, inappropriate or excessive levels of fear can be maladaptive and lead to anxiety disorders. Consequently, much research has been dedicated to finding strategies for reducing or preventing the formation of fear memories.
• In brief: Sensory systems, Neuronal networks, Addiction, Consciousness
  - Nature Reviews Neuroscience 11(2):76 (2010)
  State dependence of olfactory perception as a function of taste cortical inactivation Fortis-Santiago, Y.et al. Nature Neurosci.20 Dec 2009 (doi: 10.1038/nn.2463)
• Emerging roles of Wnts in the adult nervous system
  Inestrosa NC Arenas E - Nature Reviews Neuroscience 11(2):77 (2010)
  The roles of the Wnt signalling pathway in several developmental processes, including synaptic differentiation, are well characterized. The expression of Wnt ligands and Wnt signalling components in the mature mammalian CNS suggests that this pathway might also play a part in synaptic maintenance and function. In fact, Wnts have a crucial role in synaptic physiology, as they modulate the synaptic vesicle cycle, the trafficking of neurotransmitter receptors and the interaction of these receptors with scaffold proteins in postsynaptic regions. In addition, Wnts participate in adult neurogenesis and protect excitatory synaptic terminals from amyloid-β oligomer toxicity. Here, the latest insights into the function of Wnt signalling in the adult nervous system and therapeutic opportunities for neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease are discussed.
• Astroglial networks: a step further in neuroglial and gliovascular interactions
  - Nature Reviews Neuroscience 11(2):87 (2010)
  Dynamic aspects of interactions between astrocytes, neurons and the vasculature have recently been in the neuroscience spotlight. It has emerged that not only neurons but also astrocytes are organized into networks. Whereas neuronal networks exchange information through electrical and chemical synapses, astrocytes are interconnected through gap junction channels that are regulated by extra- and intracellular signals and allow exchange of information. This intercellular communication between glia has implications for neuroglial and gliovascular interactions and hence has added another level of complexity to our understanding of brain function.
• Abnormal neural oscillations and synchrony in schizophrenia
  - Nature Reviews Neuroscience 11(2):100 (2010)
  Converging evidence from electrophysiological, physiological and anatomical studies suggests that abnormalities in the synchronized oscillatory activity of neurons may have a central role in the pathophysiology of schizophrenia. Neural oscillations are a fundamental mechanism for the establishment of precise temporal relationships between neuronal responses that are in turn relevant for memory, perception and consciousness. In patients with schizophrenia, the synchronization of beta- and gamma-band activity is abnormal, suggesting a crucial role for dysfunctional oscillations in the generation of the cognitive deficits and other symptoms of the disorder. Dysfunctional oscillations may arise owing to anomalies in the brain's rhythm-generating networks of GABA (γ-aminobutyric acid) interneurons and in cortico-cortical connections.
• The memory function of sleep
  - Nature Reviews Neuroscience 11(2):114 (2010)
  Sleep has been identified as a state that optimizes the consolidation of newly acquired information in memory, depending on the specific conditions of learning and the timing of sleep. Consolidation during sleep promotes both quantitative and qualitative changes of memory representations. Through specific patterns of neuromodulatory activity and electric field potential oscillations, slow-wave sleep (SWS) and rapid eye movement (REM) sleep support system consolidation and synaptic consolidation, respectively. During SWS, slow oscillations, spindles and ripples — at minimum cholinergic activity — coordinate the re-activation and redistribution of hippocampus-dependent memories to neocortical sites, whereas during REM sleep, local increases in plasticity-related immediate-early gene activity — at high cholinergic and theta activity — might favour the subsequent synaptic consolidation of memories in the cortex.
• The free-energy principle: a unified brain theory?
  - Nature Reviews Neuroscience 11(2):127 (2010)
  A free-energy principle has been proposed recently that accounts for action, perception and learning. This Review looks at some key brain theories in the biological (for example, neural Darwinism) and physical (for example, information theory and optimal control theory) sciences from the free-energy perspective. Crucially, one key theme runs through each of these theories — optimization. Furthermore, if we look closely at what is optimized, the same quantity keeps emerging, namely value (expected reward, expected utility) or its complement, surprise (prediction error, expected cost). This is the quantity that is optimized under the free-energy principle, which suggests that several global brain theories might be unified within a free-energy framework.
• Centenary of Brodmann's map — conception and fate
  - Nature Reviews Neuroscience 11(2):139 (2010)
  Rarely in the history of neuroscience has a single illustration been as influential as the cytoarchitectonic map of the human brain published by Korbinian Brodmann in his monograph from 1909. The map presents the segregation of the cerebral cortex into 43 areas, as visible in cell body-stained histological sections. More importantly, Brodmann provided a comparative neuroanatomical approach and discussed ontogenetic and pathological aspects as well as structural–functional correlations. One hundred years later, a large number of neuroscientists still use Brodmann's map for localizing neuroimaging data obtained in the living human brain.