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Border and colleagues present FUSION, an open-source, web-based platform designed to integrate spatial omics with histological context. FUSION enables intuitive, interactive exploration of cellular and tissue-level features across diverse organs and assay types.

Stress induces hair greying in mice through depletion of melanocyte stem cells, which is mediated by the activation of sympathetic nerves rather than through immune attack or adrenal stress hormones.

Krause corpuscles of the clitoris and penis are highly sensitive mechanical vibration detectors that mediate sexually dimorphic mating behaviours in mice.

Soft tissue trauma can result in aberrant osteochondral differentiation of local mesenchymal progenitor cells. Here the authors show that, in mice, soft tissue trauma results in NGF expression by perivascular cells, which leads to axonal invasion and drives abnormal osteochondral differentiation, and show that this process can be prevented by inhibition of NGF signaling.

Two populations of neurons with distinct anatomy and receptor expression that convey information from the spinal cord to the brain have different functional properties with respect to touch and pain.

Tasnim et al. show that ASD-associated genes act in different compartments of somatosensory circuits and that differences in developmental timing of ASD gene function and circuit maturation contribute to phenotypic heterogeneity across ASD models.

Neuronal targets mediate the emergence of somatosensory neuron subtypes by altering the expression of neuronal transcription factors.

Paris et al. show that after injury or influenza infection alveolar type II cells signal via a STAT3–BDNF axis that activates the TrkB receptor on mesenchymal niche cells and enhances alveolar repair.

New data on brain-wide circuits centred around two interconnected hypothalamic neuron populations provide significant mechanistic insights into the emergence of social need during social isolation and the satiation of social need during social reunion.

Paired transcriptomic and chromatin accessibility profiling are used to examine the developmental trajectories of neuronal populations in the hypothalamic preoptic region, including cell types with key roles in physiological and social behaviour functions have been identified.

Distinct subdivisions of low-threshold mechanoreceptors and postsynaptic dorsal column neurons converge at the dorsal column nuclei to code precise tactile representations.

The distal axon and soma of a neuron may be a considerable distance apart, but they are still required to efficiently communicate with each other. In this Review, Harrington and Ginty examine how long-distance retrograde growth factor signalling is achieved between these compartments and its functions.

It remains critical to identify colorectal cancers (CRC) that will disseminate as early as possible. Here, the authors identify CRC tumours that are aggressive and prone to early dissemination, characterised by epithelial TGFβ and growth-factor signalling - which could be targeted with MEK/EGFR inhibitors.

Mammalian skin contains an array of specialized structures that transform mechanical forces into electrical signals. Handler and Ginty provide a comprehensive overview of the features of the skin’s mechanosensory end organs and the neurons with which they associate and consider how their diverse properties contribute to the sense of touch.

Genetic manipulation of skin peripheral sensory neurons in mice shows that cortical neuron responses to touch reflect subcortical mixing of signals from both rapidly adapting and slowly adapting low-threshold mechanoreceptors.

The newly identified calsyntenin 3β protein has a role in the innervation of thermogenic fat through a mechanism of communication—which is unique to mammals—between thermogenic adipocytes and sympathetic neurons.

A peroxidase-based labeling method allows simultaneous visualization of multiple cell types using electron microscopy without the need for spectral separation, enabling identification of synapses between genetically defined neuronal populations.

This paper implicates vascular-derived endothelins in axonal growth and guidance. It is shown that the origin of smooth muscle cells surrounding the internal and external carotids is different and finds that they preferentially express components of the endothelin ligand-receptor system. The endothelin family member ET3 directs axon extension of a subset of sympathetic neurons to the external carotid artery.

This Resource describes data, code and tools developed for the Human Reference Atlas and the Human BioMolecular Atlas Program for building and navigating a multiscale human atlas.

The patterns of nociceptive innervation in skin and spinal cord differ in mammals and lower vertebrates. Guo et al. report that nerve growth factor induces the transcription factor Hoxd1 in mouse, but not chick, sensory neurons, and that expression of Hoxd1 is necessary and sufficient for a mammalian-like pattern of nociceptive projections in vivo.

The authors find that deletion of the immediate-early gene Arc, or inhibition of the transcription factor SRF or its cofactor MAL, blocks the late phase of long-term depression (LTD) in cultured cerebellar Purkinje cells. SRF binding to the Arc promoter was required for the late phase of LTD in this system.

The TAOK2 locus has been shown to be associated with autism spectrum disorder. In this study, the authors show that downregulation of TAOK2 impairs axonal elongation and the formation of basal, but not apical, dendrites through an interaction with the Sema3A/Neuropilin 1/JNK signaling pathway.

Dendritic spines carry the majority of excitatory synapses, and spine morphology and distribution are critical for synaptic transmission, synaptic integration and plasticity. Here, signalling by the secreted semaphorin Sema3F is shown to control spine distribution along select dendritic processes, and distinct secreted semaphorin signalling events orchestrate CNS connectivity through the differential control of a variety of processes.

Novel experiences in mice lead to opposing effects on inhibition of Fos-activated hippocampal CA1 pyramidal neurons by parvalbumin- and cholecystokinin-expressing interneurons, revealing the roles of FOS and SCG2 in neural plasticity and consolidation of memories.

Mouse mutants for Sec24b, a component of COPII-coated ER-to-Golgi vesicles, have defects in convergent extension, neural tube closure and other phenotypes related to planar cell polarity (PCP). The PCP component Vangl2 is sorted by Sec24b, and Vangl2 mutants defective in convergent extension do not exit the ER.

Neurodenerative disorders such as Huntington disease lead to neuronal cell death in discrete regions of brain. A new study implicates the CREB transcription factor family as critical mediators that prevent such neuronal death.

The Human BioMolecular Atlas Program (HuBMAP) presents its production phase: the generation of spatial maps of functional tissue units across organs from diverse populations and the creation of tools and infrastructure to advance biomedical research.

This study maps the DNA methylome profile of adult mouse dentate gyrus neurons at the single-base resolution and finds prevalent methylation of both CpG dinucleotides and non-CpG cytosines (CpH). The study also shows that CpH methylation can repress transcription. Furthermore, CpH methylation is recognized by the Rett syndrome–associated protein MeCP2, which is established during neuronal maturation and maintained by DNA methyltransferase DNMT3A.

NMDA receptors are important for both normal transmission and pathological damage. New results indicate that receptor location makes the key difference: survival-promoting signals derive from synaptic receptors, whereas a cell-death signal comes from extrasynaptic receptors.