Showing papers in "Trends in Neurosciences in 2013"

TL;DR: Recent findings showing that microbiota are important in normal healthy brain function are reviewed, and ongoing and future animal and clinical studies aimed at understanding the microbiota-gut-brain axis may provide novel approaches for prevention and treatment of mental illness.

TL;DR: Recent advances in understanding how glucose metabolism sustains basic brain physiology are reviewed to form a comprehensive picture of the cooperation required between different systems and cell types, and the specific breakdowns in this cooperation that lead to disease.

TL;DR: This review critically evaluates the role of glia-induced hyperexcitability and inflammation in epilepsy and points to a significant contribution by non-neuronal cells, the glia--especially astrocytes and microglia--in the pathophysiology of epilepsy.

TL;DR: A hypothesis is presented that the extraordinary performance of the cortex derives from an associative mechanism built in at the cellular level to the basic cortical neuronal unit: the pyramidal cell.

TL;DR: To date, both human and animal studies have mainly examined MORs in the etiology of depressive disorders, and future studies will address DOR and KOR function in established and emerging neurobiological aspects of depression, including neurogenesis, neurodevelopment, and social behaviors.

TL;DR: Recent studies that have shed light on cortical folding are summarized and new models that arise from these data are discussed, which can provide the basis for a future integrative view on cortex folding.

TL;DR: Brain imaging studies suggest that altered eating is a consequence of dysregulated reward and/or awareness of homeostatic needs, perhaps related to enhanced executive ability to inhibit incentive motivational drives.

TL;DR: The proposal is made that microglia dysfunction may adversely affect brain function, and thereby contribute to the development of psychiatric and neurological disorders.

TL;DR: A new theoretical framework for RSNs is proposed that can serve as a fertile ground for empirical testing and reflects the dynamical capabilities of the brain, which emphasizes the vital interplay of time and space.

TL;DR: New insights into the spatial-functional organization of key neural microcircuits of this CPG allow the generation of multiple rhythmic breathing patterns and adaptive switching between them, depending on physiological or pathophysiological conditions.

TL;DR: Recent data supporting an unexpected degree of diversity among these midbrain DA neurons in the mammalian brain are highlighted, ranging from their developmental lineages and different synaptic connectivity to their electrophysiological properties and behavioral functions.

TL;DR: High-resolution molecular and imaging techniques are shedding light on the mechanisms and functional significance of the transient rise in tissue lactate that accompanies synaptic activity, which has a dual role as metabolic fuel and an intercellular messenger.

TL;DR: On-going work in these areas that is providing a better understanding of metabolic influences on brain excitability and epilepsy are described.

TL;DR: The quest is on to understand how tanycytes detect and respond to changes in energy balance and how they communicate with the rest of the nervous system to effect their functions.

TL;DR: The hypothesis is developed that ongoing hippocampal neurogenesis represents a decay process that continually clears memories from the hippocampus that reduces the likelihood that a given retrieval cue will reinvoke a previously stored pattern.

TL;DR: The parallel RPTP and neurexin hub design facilitates synapse self-assembly through cooperation, pairs presynaptic similarity with postsynaptic diversity, and balances excitation with inhibition.

TL;DR: A solution based on the concept of ‘molecular nexopathies’, founded on specific interactions of network and protein properties, is outlined, which has far-reaching biological and clinical implications.

TL;DR: This review integrates recently defined cellular mechanisms and neural circuits relevant to the regulation of feeding behavior, energy expenditure, and glucose homeostasis by metabolic signals.

TL;DR: Recent studies indicating that rodents are able to share states of fear, and how affective neuroscience approaches to the study of primary-process emotional systems can help to delineate how primal empathy is constituted in mammalian brains are reviewed.

TL;DR: The present review critically discusses the impact of astroglial networks on normal and pathological neuronal information processing as well as the underlying mechanisms.

TL;DR: The role of neurons and glial cells in the dynamic process of plasticity, which is fundamental to the regulation of physiological and pathological metabolic events, is focused on.

TL;DR: This review used the prosomeric model of brain development to build a hierarchical classification of brain structures based chiefly on gene expression, and believes this ontology should prove essentially valid for all vertebrates, aiding terminological unification.

TL;DR: Novel pharmacological strategies must be optimized for Parkinson's disease by targeting disturbances of the serotonergic, noradrenergic, glutamatergic, GABAergic, and cholinergic systems in addition to the dopaminergic system.

TL;DR: Targeting KCC2 phosphorylation directly or indirectly via upstream regulatory kinases might be a novel strategy to modulate GABA- and/or glycinergic signaling for therapeutic benefit.

TL;DR: This work focuses on capabilities such as attentional modulation and concept learning and discusses their mechanistic bases, with the goal of uncovering the basic neural architectures underlying cognitive processing in insects.

TL;DR: Predictive coding explains the recursive hierarchical structure of cortical processes and motor layer 4 regresses as motor predictions inherently require less modification.

TL;DR: It is proposed that, like environmental enrichment and exercise, antidepressant treatments enhance adaptability by increasing structural variability within the nervous system at many levels, from proliferating precursors to immature synaptic contacts.

TL;DR: Exciting new findings have revealed how the neurons and circuits of the piriform cortex process odor information, demonstrating that, despite its superficial simplicity, the Piriform cortex is a remarkably subtle and intricate neural circuit.

TL;DR: A framework for considering potential roles of metaplasticity across three domains of function is presented and emerging evidence that metaPlasticity mechanisms may play a role in disease causally and may serve as a potential therapeutic target is discussed.

TL;DR: It is hypothesized that stress during gestation or lactation affects the intake of macro- and micronutrients, including dietary methyl donors, and/or impairs the dam's metabolism, thereby altering nutrient composition and intake by the offspring.