Articles in 2012

In this study, the authors show that Psd-95 mRNA is regulated by an alternative splicing and nonsense-mediated decay mechanism involving PTBP1 and PTBP2. The downregulation of these proteins with development allows for the expression of PSD-95 and synaptic maturation.

The authors report that a developmental increase in the 4-sulfation/6-sulfation ratio of chondroitin sulfate proteoglycans modulates the maturity of parvalbumin-expressing interneurons and leads to the termination of the critical period for ocular dominance plasticity in the mouse visual cortex.

The authors investigate the basis of the variations in the channel properties of NMDAR subtypes and report that the specificity of the Mg²⁺ block, the selective permeability to Ca²⁺ and the single-channel conductance are all primarily controlled by the residue at a single GluN2 site in the M3 transmembrane region.

Neurons in the prefrontal cortex (PFC) and parietal cortex, including the lateral intraparietal area (LIP), can represent the category membership of stimuli. Category signals in LIP were thought to result from top-down feedback from the PFC. Here the authors show that category signals in the LIP are stronger, more reliable and occur earlier than those in the PFC.

In this study, the authors show that mDia1 and mDia3 are necessary for the tangential migration of interneuron precursors, but are dispensable for radial migration. These proteins act via a Rho/ROCK-mediated pathway to regulate F-actin accumulation and nuclear translocation.

This study uses computational modeling to demonstrate how a visual number sense might emerge. The results of the model successfully predict behavior from both non-human primates and human children.

In this study, the authors show that NAB-1 acts during synaptogenesis to link the F-actin network and the active zone proteins SYD-1 and SYD-2, thereby promoting presynapse assembly in Caenorhabditis elegans.

This study uses a combination of computational modeling and magnetoencephalography to track activity while people make decisions, and finds that prefrontal and parietal cortex activity is consistent with mutual inhibition between competing options during decision-making. This activity is likely to represent a mechanism for the comparison of values while making choices.

This study demonstrates that visual crowding (the inability to identify objects in clutter) develops as a result of interactions between peripheral attention and saccade-induced image displacements. The authors suggest that this offers a much more generalized explanation for the phenomenon of visual crowding.

In a mouse model of cannabinoid tolerance, persistent activation of the eCB pathway impairs eCB-mediated long-term depression (LTD) preferentially at connections to striatopallidal neurons. This is associated with a shift in behavioral control from goal-directed action to habitual responding; both LTD and behavioral changes were rescued by modulating small-conductance Ca²⁺-activated K⁺ channels (SK channels).