Neuroscience · Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience
Researchers mapped the synaptic connections of hormone-producing neurons in the adult fruit-fly brain. The analysis identified corazonin-producing neurons and a downstream partner that influence egg-laying, while also showing how signals from taste, smell and digestive-system neurons reach the network.
People with first-episode psychosis had glutamate levels that were correlated across several brain regions, unlike healthy comparison participants. The study did not find clear differences in glutamate concentration within any individual region, and the network-level findings were exploratory.
The structure of early training influenced how flexibly mice learned a complex odor-timing task. Recurrent neural networks showed similar effects, suggesting that well-structured practice helps the brain build knowledge that can be reused when tasks become more complex.
In male mice, brief bursts of neuronal activity tracked which sensory cues predicted rewards and changed as those associations changed. Suppressing the bursts disrupted learning and task performance, providing causal evidence that they help drive associative learning.
Early blockage of NMDA receptors in male rats led to long-lasting changes in inhibitory interneurons in the visual cortex, including fewer parvalbumin-positive cells. When the rats later lived in enriched environments, parvalbumin cell counts rose and several plasticity-related protein markers increased, while NMDA receptor NR1 levels did not recover.
