Hot off the presses! May 01 Nature Reviews Neuroscience

The May 01 issue of the Nature Reviews Neuroscience is now up on Pubget (About Nature Reviews Neuroscience): 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(5):293 (2010)
  In keeping with the spring season, this issue contains a number of articles about neuron birth and development.The generation of neurons from neural stem cells involves many steps, each of which is regulated by multiple intrinsic and extrinsic factors.
• Neuron–glia interactions: Do they or don't they?
  - Nature Reviews Neuroscience 11(5):295 (2010)
  The proposal that astrocytes modulate neuronal function by releasing neurotransmitters in a Ca2+-dependent manner suggests the possibility of an added layer of information processing in the brain. However, this idea has been highly controversial.
• Learning and memory: It's all in the timing
  - Nature Reviews Neuroscience 11(5):296 (2010)
  Theta oscillations occur in the hippocampus during periods of learning and are thought to support synaptic plasticity and memory formation. However, it was not understood how these oscillations relate to single-neuron activity in response to a stimulus and to the formation of a memory of that stimulus.
• In brief: Learning and memory, Epigenetics, Neurodegenerative disease, Development
  - Nature Reviews Neuroscience 11(5):296 (2010)
  Methylphenidate facilitates learning-induced amygdala plasticity Tye , K. M.et al. Nature Neurosci. 13, 475–481 (2010)
• Neurotransmission: Playing tag!
  - Nature Reviews Neuroscience 11(5):297 (2010)
  The ubiquitin proteasome system (UPS) has been implicated in modulating presynaptic and postsynaptic physiology by protein degradation. Rinetti and Schweizer now show that the dynamic ubiquitlyation of presynaptic proteins also regulates synaptic transmission independently of degradation by the UPS.
• Neurodegenerative diseases: Microglia's little helper
  - Nature Reviews Neuroscience 11(5):297 (2010)
  The locus coeruleus is the major source of noradrenaline in the brain, and its degeneration in Alzheimer's disease is closely associated with the progression of symptoms. It has recently been shown that noradrenergic transmission can decrease amyloid-β (Aβ) deposition, but how it achieves this effect was unclear.
• Neurodevelopmental disorders: Mechanistic insights into Angelman's syndrome
  - Nature Reviews Neuroscience 11(5):298 (2010)
  Angelman's syndrome is a neurological disorder that causes motor dysfunction, severe mental retardation and autistic behaviour. Most cases of the syndrome are associated with mutations in the maternal copy of the gene encoding ubiquitin protein ligase E3A (UBE3A), but how this gene contributes to normal nervous system development is unclear.
• Small RNAs: Unwrapping glial differentiation
  - Nature Reviews Neuroscience 11(5):298 (2010)
  Oligodendrocytes — specialized glia that wrap neuronal axons with myelin — develop from rapidly proliferating oligodendrocyte precursor cells (OPCs). Two papers in Neuron reveal that microRNAs (miRNAs) in maturing OPCs have a key role in the post-transcriptional repression of genes involved in OPC proliferation and thus in the promotion of oligodendrocyte differentiation.
• Synaptic plasticity: An appetite for learning
  - Nature Reviews Neuroscience 11(5):298 (2010)
  The hormone leptin is well known for its role in energy homeostasis, but it has also been found to influence synaptic plasticity. Investigating the mechanisms that underlie this function, Moult et al.GluR1) expression at hippocampal synapses and increases synaptic strength by inhibiting the protein phosphatase and tensin homologue (PTEN).
• In brief: Development, Neurodegenerative disease, Memory, Neuroprotection
  - Nature Reviews Neuroscience 11(5):299 (2010)
  PHOX2A regulation of oculomotor complex nucleogenesis Hasan , K. B.et al. Development 137, 1205–1213 (2010)
• Emerging roles for G protein-gated inwardly rectifying potassium (GIRK) channels in health and disease
  Lüscher C Slesinger PA - Nature Reviews Neuroscience 11(5):301 (2010)
  G protein-gated inwardly rectifying potassium (GIRK) channels hyperpolarize neurons in response to activation of many different G protein-coupled receptors and thus control the excitability of neurons through GIRK-mediated self-inhibition, slow synaptic potentials and volume transmission. GIRK channel function and trafficking are highly dependent on the channel subunit composition. Pharmacological investigations of GIRK channels and studies in animal models suggest that GIRK activity has an important role in physiological responses, including pain perception and memory modulation. Moreover, abnormal GIRK function has been implicated in altering neuronal excitability and cell death, which may be important in the pathophysiology of diseases such as epilepsy, Down's syndrome, Parkinson's disease and drug addiction. GIRK channels may therefore prove to be a valuable new therapeutic target.
• Branching out: mechanisms of dendritic arborization
  Jan YN Jan LY - Nature Reviews Neuroscience 11(5):316 (2010)
  Type-specific dendrite morphology is a hallmark of the neuron and has important functional implications in determining what signals a neuron receives and how these signals are integrated. During the past two decades, studies on dendritic arborization neurons in Drosophila melanogaster have started to identify mechanisms of dendrite morphogenesis that may have broad applicability to vertebrate species. Transcription factors, receptor–ligand interactions, various signalling pathways, local translational machinery, cytoskeletal elements, Golgi outposts and endosomes have been identified as contributors to the organization of dendrites of individual neurons and the placement of these dendrites in the neuronal circuitry. Further insight into these mechanisms will improve our understanding of how the nervous system functions and might help to identify the underlying causes of some neurological and neurodevelopmental disorders.
• Roles of small regulatory RNAs in determining neuronal identity
  Li X Jin P - Nature Reviews Neuroscience 11(5):329 (2010)
  Neurogenesis, the process of generating functional neurons from neural stem cells, is tightly controlled by many intrinsic and extrinsic mechanisms. Uncovering these regulatory mechanisms is crucial for understanding the functions and plasticity of the human brain. Recent studies in both invertebrates and vertebrates point to the importance of small regulatory RNAs in regulating lineage-specific gene expression and determining neuronal identity during neurogenesis. These new observations suggest that small regulatory RNAs could function at many levels to regulate self-renewal of neural stem cells and neuronal fate specification, implicating small regulatory RNAs in the complexity of neurogenesis.
• New neurons and new memories: how does adult hippocampal neurogenesis affect learning and memory?
  Deng W Aimone JB Gage FH - Nature Reviews Neuroscience 11(5):339 (2010)
  The integration of adult-born neurons into the circuitry of the adult hippocampus suggests an important role for adult hippocampal neurogenesis in learning and memory, but its specific function in these processes has remained elusive. In this article, we summarize recent progress in this area, including advances based on behavioural studies and insights provided by computational modelling. Increasingly, evidence suggests that newborn neurons might be involved in hippocampal functions that are particularly dependent on the dentate gyrus, such as pattern separation. Furthermore, newborn neurons at different maturation stages may make distinct contributions to learning and memory. In particular, computational studies suggest that, before newborn neurons are fully mature, they might function as a pattern integrator by introducing a degree of similarity to the encoding of events that occur closely in time.
• Active perception: sensorimotor circuits as a cortical basis for language
  Pulvermüller F Fadiga L - Nature Reviews Neuroscience 11(5):351 (2010)
  Action and perception are functionally linked in the brain, but a hotly debated question is whether perception and comprehension of stimuli depend on motor circuits. Brain language mechanisms are ideal for addressing this question. Neuroimaging investigations have found specific motor activations when subjects understand speech sounds, word meanings and sentence structures. Moreover, studies involving transcranial magnetic stimulation and patients with lesions affecting inferior frontal regions of the brain have shown contributions of motor circuits to the comprehension of phonemes, semantic categories and grammar. These data show that language comprehension benefits from frontocentral action systems, indicating that action and perception circuits are interdependent.
• Correspondence: Beyond IQ comparisons: intra-individual training differences
  Houdé O - Nature Reviews Neuroscience 11(5):370 (2010)
  As stated by Deary, Penke and Johnson in their recent article (The neuroscience of human intelligence differences. Nature Rev. Neurosci. 11, 201–211 (2010)