Dopamine is a critical modulator of brain circuits that control voluntary movements. However, its influence on the activity of target neurons in vivo remains limited. In this study, two-photon microscopy was used to monitor the activity of direct and indirect-pathway spiny projection neurons (SPNs) simultaneously in the striatum of behaving mice. The striatum mainly consists of two large populations...

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...

Wind is a major navigational cue for insects and this study examined how wind direction is decoded by central neurons in the insect brain. They determined that flies combine signals from both antennae to orient to wind during olfactory search behavior. In Drosophila, movements of the antennae are detected by mechanosensory neurons, known as Johnston’s Organ (JO) neurons. The JO neurons project from...

This data was collected to identify the brain regions and circuit organizations that support navigation. In insects, the central complex (CX) is thought to control many aspects of navigation. The CX is a highly organized neuropil, which consists of the protocerebral bridge, the ellipsoid body, the fan-shaped body, and the paired noduli. This study contains electrophysiology, imaging, and behavioral...

Tau is one of the major microtubule-associated proteins in neurons. Its main role is to stabilize microtubules, supporting cytoskeletal organization, and axonal transport. Tau may undergo pathological modifications and become hyperphosphorylated. This causes the protein to accumulate into toxic assemblies that collectively lead to neurodegeneration. In Alzheimer's disease, tau proteins change shape...

This study examined changes in membrane potential dynamics of dorsolateral striatal neurons comparing naive mice and expert mice trained to lick a reward spout in response to whisker deflection. In the study, the mice were implanted with a light-weight metal head-post and a recording chamber. The position of the DLS was stereotaxically marked at the surface of the skull and the animals were returned...

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) can image brain structure non-invasively and without ionizing radiation. However, inferring histopathological information from MRI remains challenging due to lack of direct links between MRI signals and cellular structures. This study showed that deep convolutional neural networks can estimate histological staining intensity directly from MRI signals developed using...

This study examined to what extent parental animals are intrinsically sensitive to neonatal vocalizations, or instead learn about vocal cues for parenting responses. In mice, naive virgins do not recognize the meaning of pup distress calls, but retrieve isolated pups to the nest following cohousing with a mother and litter. For this study, C57BL/6J virgin females were used in all experiments. The dataset...

This study profiled neurotrophin and neurotrophin receptor gene expression within microdissected CA1 neurons along with regional hippocampal dissections from participants in the Rush Religious Orders Study (RROS). The RROS participants included older religious clergy who have agreed to medical and psychological evaluation each year and brain donation after death. This study began in 1993 and has enrolled...

This study investigated whether the Alzheimer’s disease (AD) pathological lesions diffuse plaques (DPs), neuritic plaques (NPs), and neurofibrillary tangles (NFTs). For this study, downregulation of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and its cognate neurotrophin receptor, TrkB, were observed during the progression of dementia. They performed negative binomial (NB) regressions using gene expression...