39 units of electrophysiological and behavioral recordings were obtained from a total of 8 human subjects aged 46 to 66 years old with Parkinson's disease who were undergoing implantation of deep brain stimulation electrodes. The study examined neural activity in the subthalamic nucleus (STN) in a series of trials that prompted single-step and multistep reaching movements. A stereoscopic camera recorded...

The dorsal root ganglia (DRG) are the first-order neurons in the somatosensory system. However, DRG neuronal activity in awake behaving animals remains unknown. This study developed a method for imaging DRG at cellular and subcellular resolution over weeks in awake mice. They installed an intervertebral fusion mount to reduce spinal movement and implanted a vertebral glass window without interfering...

Brain metastasis is the most common intracranial malignancy in adults, which is often fatal. Studies have shown that brain metastases depend on cooperative cellular interactions between tumor cells and specialized cells within the central nervous system (CNS). Metabolic constraints imposed by the serine and glycine limited brain environment restrict metastatic tumor growth. This study showed that 3-phosphoglycerate...

To investigate whether acute SARS‐CoV‐2 infection was associated with (1) amyloidogenic, aggregation‐prone forms of αSyn in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), (2) signature of pathogenic changes, and (3) future risk for frank synucleinopathy, the research team compared CSF biomarkers obtained through lumbar puncture for the evaluation of neurologic symptoms from 12 adult patients hospitalized at NYU Langone...

Oxytocin is a neuropeptide released in the central nervous system, which is involved in a wide range of behaviors including reproduction, parental care, and pair bonding. In addition, peripheral oxytocin is important for milk ejection during nursing and uterine contractions during labor. Oxytocin is produced mainly in the paraventricular nucleus (PVN) and supraoptic nucleus of the hypothalamus. This...

T follicular helper (TFH) cells are CD4+ T helper cells that are important for immune responses to infection and vaccination. This study examined the translational regulation required for CD4+ T helper cells to differentiate to TFH cells and its contribution to TFH cell participation in pathogenesis in autoimmune disease in animal models. The experiments for non-autoimmune studies were performed with...

Polycomb repressive complexes (PRCs) are known for repressing transcription through histone modifications and chromatin compaction. The PRCs consist of two central protein complexes, PRC1 and PRC2, which are important for normal gene regulation and development. This study found that PRC1 is essential for the specification of segmentally restricted spinal motor neuron subtypes, while PRC2 activity is...

Diagnostics, Imaging, and Genetics Network for the Objective Study and Evaluation of Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (DIAGNOSE CTE) was a longitudinal multi-site study of diagnostic methods for CTE and potential risk factors for the disease. The primary objectives of the study are to collect and analyze neuroimaging and fluid biomarkers for the detection of CTE during life, characterize its clinical...

Sympathetic neurons isolated from the superior cervical ganglia (SCG) of embryonic rodents undergo apoptotic cell death in response to nerve growth factor deprivation. This study investigated how mature neurons are capable of avoiding cell death when deprived of trophic support can be studied in vitro using cultures of embryonic sympathetic neurons. They performed RNA sequencing experiments on sympathetic...