eNeuroPub Date : 2026-09-11Print Date: 2026-09-01DOI: 10.1523/ENEURO.0328-25.2026
Tram T N Nguyen, Linda Ficco, Ian M Thornton, Meike Ramon
{"title":"Objective Neural Markers of Identity Familiarization via Passive Exposure and Fast Periodic Visual Stimulation EEG.","authors":"Tram T N Nguyen, Linda Ficco, Ian M Thornton, Meike Ramon","doi":"10.1523/ENEURO.0328-25.2026","DOIUrl":"10.1523/ENEURO.0328-25.2026","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Despite a wealth of information provided by face perception research, the neural processes by which unfamiliar faces become familiar-particularly via passive exposure-remain poorly understood. Here, we introduce a novel fast periodic visual stimulation electroencephalography (FPVS-EEG) paradigm designed to objectively track neural familiarization. Specifically, our paradigm measures the emergence of implicit face-identity familiarity during brief, passive repetition learning, without requiring explicit recognition or task engagement. The paradigm uses ecologically valid stimuli incorporating image variations characteristic of forensic material. We tested 28 (18 females) healthy human volunteers including neurotypical civilians and law enforcement professionals, all with typical face-processing abilities. Neural responses were measured to a 1 Hz tagged oddball identity embedded within a 6 Hz stream of changing base images, using high-quality mugshot and CCTV-like stimuli. Results showed that neural signatures of implicit familiarity can emerge rapidly within minutes of passive exposure but only when high-quality mugshot images are used. These familiarity-related responses were characterized by concurrent neural suppression and enhancement, likely to reflect the co-occurrence of repetition detection and identity learning processes. The FPVS-EEG approach reported here provides an objective and quantifiable measure of implicit, early face learning that could complement behavioral assessments and inform future research on individual differences and applied contexts.</p>","PeriodicalId":11617,"journal":{"name":"eNeuro","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2026-09-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13583328/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148648303","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
eNeuroPub Date : 2026-09-11Print Date: 2026-09-01DOI: 10.1523/ENEURO.0147-26.2026
Gavin Thomas Koma, Joshua D Ross, Thomas J Campion, Jacquelynn Rajavong, Yuanchao Zhang, George M Smith, Andrew J Spence
{"title":"Kinematics-Based Assessment of Reaching and Grasping Movements in LRN Ablated Animals Identifies a Role for the LRN in Endpoint Stabilization and Reach Timing.","authors":"Gavin Thomas Koma, Joshua D Ross, Thomas J Campion, Jacquelynn Rajavong, Yuanchao Zhang, George M Smith, Andrew J Spence","doi":"10.1523/ENEURO.0147-26.2026","DOIUrl":"10.1523/ENEURO.0147-26.2026","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The lateral reticular nucleus (LRN) is positioned to relay motor-related information to cerebellar circuits, but its direct contribution to skilled reaching and grasping remains unclear. Here, we examined skilled forelimb behavior in intact adult female Long-Evans rats after bilateral, cell type-targeted LRN ablation using single-pellet reaching, qualitative scoring, and quantitative three-dimensional kinematic analysis. We assessed whether LRN loss disrupted gross limb transport, endpoint precision, trial-to-trial consistency, and reach timing across pre- and post-surgical recording sessions. LRN-ablated animals continued to generate broadly recognizable pellet-directed reaches, indicating that the LRN is not required for basic reach production. However, group differences emerged in restricted portions of the reach trajectory and were most prominent in pellet-directed endpoint control. Experimental animals showed broader endpoint covariance, greater endpoint spread, and increased trial-to-trial variability, indicating less precise and less reproducible forelimb placement relative to the pellet. These effects were not explained by a single fixed spatial offset, but instead reflected reduced endpoint stabilization accompanied by selective coordinate-specific changes, including altered paw height. Reach duration was also altered, but these timing differences emerged later and were less prominent than the spatial endpoint deficits. Together, these findings suggest that the LRN contributes primarily to the refinement, stabilization, and timing of skilled forelimb movements rather than to gross reach initiation or limb transport. This work provides a direct in vivo model for studying LRN-dependent control of skilled reaching and highlights the value of kinematic analysis for detecting subtle movement deficits beyond retrieval success alone.</p>","PeriodicalId":11617,"journal":{"name":"eNeuro","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2026-09-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13583320/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148849907","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
eNeuroPub Date : 2026-09-11Print Date: 2026-09-01DOI: 10.1523/ENEURO.0176-26.2026
Josselin Gautier, Norick R Bowers, Martin S Banks, Austin Roorda
{"title":"How Gaze Direction and Dynamics Affect Visual Resolution.","authors":"Josselin Gautier, Norick R Bowers, Martin S Banks, Austin Roorda","doi":"10.1523/ENEURO.0176-26.2026","DOIUrl":"10.1523/ENEURO.0176-26.2026","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Humans exhibit machine-like eye movements (consistent and repeatable) in space and time while performing demanding acuity tasks. To investigate these, we used an adaptive optics imaging and display system in 6 human subjects (4 females, 2 males) to present ultra-sharp Vernier acuity stimuli briefly every 2 s while simultaneously measuring eye movements, including precisely where on the retina each stimulus fell. We found that drifts and microsaccades combined to confine the landing location of the anticipated stimulus to a tiny retinal region centered on the preferred retinal locus (PRL). The variance of landing location was smallest at the time of stimulus presentation and a few hundred milliseconds after. We correlated where the stimulus fell in space and time with correct or incorrect responses. The PRL and a small area around it, including the anatomical fovea, conferred the best acuity. Acuity declined consistently in the rare events in which the stimulus fell more than 5 minarc from the PRL. We also found that acuity was best when the last microsaccade occurred sufficiently prior to stimulus presentation. Our findings reveal a highly evolved oculomotor system where gaze direction during fixation is rarely far enough from the PRL to compromise visual resolution when a person makes natural fixational eye movements.</p>","PeriodicalId":11617,"journal":{"name":"eNeuro","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2026-09-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13583326/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148817749","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
eNeuroPub Date : 2026-09-11Print Date: 2026-09-01DOI: 10.1523/ENEURO.0109-26.2026
John M Judge, Meyer B Jackson
{"title":"Biased Inter-columnar Communication and Short-Term Plasticity in Mouse Barrel Cortex.","authors":"John M Judge, Meyer B Jackson","doi":"10.1523/ENEURO.0109-26.2026","DOIUrl":"10.1523/ENEURO.0109-26.2026","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Each barrel of the barrel cortex (BC) receives thalamic input primarily from a single whisker. Barrels then communicate through intracortical circuitry to integrate input from multiple whiskers and perform processing functions such as spatial filtering, motion sensing, and object localization. To investigate the circuits that enable barrels to communicate independently of extracortical and inter-areal influences, we prepared slices of somatosensory cortex from mice of both sexes with a hybrid voltage sensor (hVOS) targeted to Scnn1a excitatory neurons in cortical layer 4 (L4). We then imaged voltage responses of this population of neurons to electrical stimulation. Imaging tracked activity initiated in L4 of one barrel spreading into layer 2/3 (L2/3) and then to L4 of neighboring barrels. AMPA receptor blockade eliminated this spread, suggesting that L4 signaling to neighboring barrels employs an L4→L2/3→L4 excitatory synaptic relay. Blocking AMPA receptors also enhanced some responses, revealing intra- and inter-barrel feedforward inhibition. Both coronal and sagittal slices presented the layout of barrels, which aligned with facial whisker organization. We assessed inter-barrel communication in different directions and found it to be isotropic in response amplitude, half-width, and conduction velocity. However, latency was longest for communication to caudal barrels. Furthermore, paired-pulse depression was strongest and recovery slowest for inter-barrel communication related to exploratory protraction. Such biases have the potential to contribute to direction-sensitive processing. Anisotropy in short-term plasticity can tune BC microcircuits to preserve temporal fidelity and filter selectively according to direction.</p>","PeriodicalId":11617,"journal":{"name":"eNeuro","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2026-09-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13592017/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148849968","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
eNeuroPub Date : 2026-09-11Print Date: 2026-09-01DOI: 10.1523/ENEURO.0183-26.2026
Tianjiao Zhang, Jack L Gallant
{"title":"Visual-Semantic Tuning across the Cortex Shifts between Tasks.","authors":"Tianjiao Zhang, Jack L Gallant","doi":"10.1523/ENEURO.0183-26.2026","DOIUrl":"10.1523/ENEURO.0183-26.2026","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Attention is a powerful mechanism that dynamically optimizes brain representations to prioritize behaviorally relevant information. While previous studies focusing on single tasks have demonstrated that attention shifts tuning toward attended targets, real-world behavior often requires humans to switch between tasks with different demands. How does visual-semantic tuning in the human brain shift to support the behavioral demands of different naturalistic tasks? To investigate this question, we used voxelwise encoding models to explore how visual-semantic tuning across the human cerebral cortex shifts between two naturalistic human fMRI experiments that used distinct tasks, movie-watching (five male participants) and active navigation (six participants, three male, three female). Results show that visual-semantic tuning in the cortex differed substantially between experiments. Principal component analysis reveals that during navigation, tuning shifts increase the representation of vehicles and traffic signs compared with movie-watching and that these shifts are localized to distinct functional networks. These tuning shifts reconfigure the human brain's representations of object categories based on their behavioral relevance. These findings suggest that visual-semantic tuning in the brain dynamically shifts toward task-relevant information across naturalistic tasks, optimizing functional representations to achieve diverse behavioral goals.</p>","PeriodicalId":11617,"journal":{"name":"eNeuro","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2026-09-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13583329/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148817793","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
eNeuroPub Date : 2026-09-08Print Date: 2026-09-01DOI: 10.1523/ENEURO.0272-25.2026
Kelsey Mankel, Daniel C Comstock, Brett M Bormann, Soukhin Das, Doron Sagiv, Hilary Brodie, Lee M Miller
{"title":"Auditory Brainstem Encoding of Speech-in-Noise Predicts Word Identification, Narrative Comprehension, and Subjective Listening Effort in a Selective Attention Task.","authors":"Kelsey Mankel, Daniel C Comstock, Brett M Bormann, Soukhin Das, Doron Sagiv, Hilary Brodie, Lee M Miller","doi":"10.1523/ENEURO.0272-25.2026","DOIUrl":"10.1523/ENEURO.0272-25.2026","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The auditory brainstem plays a crucial role in speech-in-noise (SiN) listening, refining numerous acoustic features such as pitch and spatial location under continual descending influence from the cortex. However, the difficulty of characterizing brainstem activity during continuous speech listening has obscured its functional role in ecologically valid contexts-not only the effects of selective attention on neural responses but also their impact on comprehension and listening effort. Here, we evaluated the role of the brainstem in SiN perception and other listening behaviors using a continuous, speech-based stimulus with embedded chirps (Cheech) that rapidly and effectively evoked auditory brainstem responses (ABRs) while 25 participants listened to short story narratives (<i>n</i> = 15 females, 10 males). The Cheech-modified stories were presented alone or in the presence of another spatially separated talker, and neural responses were measured throughout by EEG. Both word-level detection performance and narrative-level comprehension were evaluated, as well as subjective reports of listening effort. ABR wave V was modulated by the presence of a competing talker. Additionally, wave V peak amplitudes were associated with identification speed of the target words embedded within the stories, while faster latencies were related to better target word identification accuracy, comprehension question accuracy, and lower subjective listening effort. Collectively, our results provide evidence for the influence of brainstem encoding processes on individual speech-listening behaviors, including the ability to selectively attend to and comprehend target speech in the presence of a competing talker.</p>","PeriodicalId":11617,"journal":{"name":"eNeuro","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2026-09-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13629154/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148759044","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
eNeuroPub Date : 2026-09-08Print Date: 2026-09-01DOI: 10.1523/ENEURO.0069-26.2026
Shyanthony R Synigal, Andrew J Anderson, Edmund C Lalor
{"title":"Electrophysiological Indices of Hierarchical Speech Processing Differentially Reflect the Comprehension of Speech in Noise.","authors":"Shyanthony R Synigal, Andrew J Anderson, Edmund C Lalor","doi":"10.1523/ENEURO.0069-26.2026","DOIUrl":"10.1523/ENEURO.0069-26.2026","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The past few years have seen an increase in the use of encoding models to explain neural responses to natural speech. The goal of these models is to characterize how the human brain converts acoustic energy into distinct linguistic representations that enable everyday speech comprehension. For example, researchers have shown that electroencephalography (EEG) data can be modeled in terms of acoustic features of speech, such as its amplitude envelope or spectrogram, linguistic features such as phonemes and phoneme probability, and higher-level linguistic features like context-based word predictability. However, it is unclear how reliably EEG indices of these speech feature representations reflect comprehension in different listening conditions. To address this, we recorded EEG from 25 neurotypical adults (nine males) who listened to segments of an audiobook in various levels of background noise. We modeled how their EEG responses reflected a range of acoustic and linguistic speech features and how this tracking varied with behavior across noise levels. EEG tracking of nearly all examined features showed SNR-dependent changes in unique variance explained, with the largest changes occurring for linguistic features. We hypothesized that only higher-level feature tracking would predict behavior but instead found that both high- and low-level features were associated with behavioral scores depending on the noise level. EEG markers of the influence of top-down, context-based prediction on bottom-up acoustic processing also correlated with behavior. These findings help characterize the relationship between brain and behavior by comprehensively linking hierarchical indices of neural speech processing to language comprehension metrics.</p>","PeriodicalId":11617,"journal":{"name":"eNeuro","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2026-09-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13560466/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148817760","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
eNeuroPub Date : 2026-09-08Print Date: 2026-09-01DOI: 10.1523/ENEURO.0123-26.2026
Andrew Gallagher, Amber Victoria Wilson, Saheed Lawal, Harshil Sanghvi, Javed Iqbal, Matthew Dickinson, Brandon Li, Daniel Adolfo Llano, Prerana Shrestha
{"title":"Safety Signals Enable Single-Session Active Avoidance Paradigm and Expose Threat Generalization in Tuberous Sclerosis Complex.","authors":"Andrew Gallagher, Amber Victoria Wilson, Saheed Lawal, Harshil Sanghvi, Javed Iqbal, Matthew Dickinson, Brandon Li, Daniel Adolfo Llano, Prerana Shrestha","doi":"10.1523/ENEURO.0123-26.2026","DOIUrl":"10.1523/ENEURO.0123-26.2026","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Animals must flexibly discriminate between threat and nonthreat to deploy adaptive defensive strategies. We introduce a single-session differential signaled active avoidance paradigm that temporally dissociates acquisition, consolidation, and retrieval of instrumental avoidance memory. Interleaving a behaviorally noncontingent neutral cue (CS-) with a threat-predictive, behaviorally contingent cue (CS+) enhanced long-term memory without altering acquisition, demonstrating that differential contingency structure selectively reinforces memory consolidation rather than influencing learning performance. Naive mice of either sex inferred contingencies within a single session, and discrimination achieved during training predicted retrieval precision. However, discrimination operated within defined boundary conditions: Extended training or elevated threat intensity destabilized cue specificity and promoted persistent avoidance generalization. Under high-threat conditions, freezing and shuttling coemerged as complementary defensive responses, indicating a shift from precise cue-based encoding to a generalized defensive state. Remote retrieval recruited oxytocin receptor-expressing cells in the medial prefrontal cortex and activated mTORC1-dependent translational signaling, implicating protein synthesis in maintenance of discriminative avoidance memory. In a tuberous sclerosis complex mouse model with Tsc2 haploinsufficiency in oxytocin-responsive cells, males displayed intact acquisition but generalized avoidance at both recent and remote time points, a deficit not rescued by additional training. These findings identify oxytocin-modulated translational control as a molecular gate stabilizing threat-safety discrimination and show that disruption of this axis-by excessive threat or reduced Tsc2 gene dosage-biases memory toward pathological generalization, providing a mechanistic framework for safety-learning deficits in neurodevelopmental and anxiety-related disorders.</p>","PeriodicalId":11617,"journal":{"name":"eNeuro","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2026-09-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13629155/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148812329","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
eNeuroPub Date : 2026-09-03Print Date: 2026-09-01DOI: 10.1523/ENEURO.0174-26.2026
Amanda G Iglesias, Jasmine K Bhatti, Alexandra E Turfe, Stephen Chang, Hsin-Jui Lu, Paolo Campus, Shelly B Flagel
{"title":"Chemogenetic Inhibition of Lateral Hypothalamus Inputs to the Paraventricular Thalamus Reduces Goal-Tracking in a Behaviorally Flexible Subgroup of Male Rats.","authors":"Amanda G Iglesias, Jasmine K Bhatti, Alexandra E Turfe, Stephen Chang, Hsin-Jui Lu, Paolo Campus, Shelly B Flagel","doi":"10.1523/ENEURO.0174-26.2026","DOIUrl":"10.1523/ENEURO.0174-26.2026","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The paraventricular nucleus of the thalamus (PVT) has emerged as an important node in circuits regulating motivated behavior. The neuronal pathway from the lateral hypothalamus (LH) to the PVT has been shown to regulate arousal, feeding, and reward seeking. However, the involvement of the LH-PVT pathway in individual differences in cue-motivated behavior remains unclear. During a pavlovian conditioned approach (PavCA) paradigm, when a reward is repeatedly preceded by the presentation of a cue, rats come to exhibit a conditioned response to the cue. One extreme of the population, sign-trackers (STs), approaches and interacts with the cue itself, while the other extreme, goal-trackers (GTs), approaches the location of reward delivery. Intermediate responders (IRs) approach and interact with both the cue and reward location, without a preference. We utilized a PavCA paradigm in male rats to examine the effects of LH-PVT pathway inhibition on individual differences in cue-motivated behavior. A dual-vector approach was used to express inhibitory chemogenetic receptors in the LH-PVT pathway. We found that inhibition of the LH-PVT pathway selectively attenuates the expression of goal-tracking behavior, without affecting sign-tracking. This effect is driven primarily by IR rats, as inhibition of LH-PVT neurons attenuates goal-tracking behavior in IRs, without impacting the response of STs or GTs. We speculate that the flexibility of responding in IR rats made them especially vulnerable to this manipulation. These findings identify the LH-PVT pathway as a selective contributor to reward-directed conditioned responding and a circuit substrate for behavioral flexibility.</p>","PeriodicalId":11617,"journal":{"name":"eNeuro","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2026-09-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13548364/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148648255","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
eNeuroPub Date : 2026-09-03Print Date: 2026-09-01DOI: 10.1523/ENEURO.0429-25.2026
Alexander M Kuhn, Kelly E Bosis, Madeline M Mairose, David T Dadosky, Brandon L M Crotchett, Etienne J Mueller, Kenny Triplett, Lilian Jerow, Lauren Larke Vollmer, Justin L Bollinger, Eric S Wohleb
{"title":"Neuronal <i>Ddit4</i> Overexpression in the Medial Prefrontal Cortex Reduces Synaptic Density and Impairs Cognitive Function in Mice.","authors":"Alexander M Kuhn, Kelly E Bosis, Madeline M Mairose, David T Dadosky, Brandon L M Crotchett, Etienne J Mueller, Kenny Triplett, Lilian Jerow, Lauren Larke Vollmer, Justin L Bollinger, Eric S Wohleb","doi":"10.1523/ENEURO.0429-25.2026","DOIUrl":"10.1523/ENEURO.0429-25.2026","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Chronic stress exposure causes neurobiological and behavioral changes that resemble those reported in psychiatric conditions such as major depressive disorder (MDD). Preclinical stress models and studies using postmortem tissue from MDD patients have shown that DNA damage-inducible transcript 4 (<i>Ddit4</i>) is increased in the prefrontal cortex (PFC). This is important because DDIT4 negatively regulates the mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) pathway, which may lead to behavioral deficits through diminished neuroplasticity and PFC function. Our prior studies indicate that coordinated neuron-microglia interactions contribute to synaptic remodeling in the PFC. The present studies aimed to test the hypothesis that increased neuronal <i>Ddit4</i> expression is sufficient to drive structural remodeling of PFC neurons, in part by provoking microglia activation, and this leads to behavioral and cognitive deficits. To this end, we bilaterally infused AAV5-hSyn1-Ddit4-tdTomato or a control vector into the PFC of male Thy1-GFP and C57BL/6 mice and examined molecular, cellular, and behavioral endpoints. Mice with <i>Ddit4</i> overexpression (Ddit4-OV) showed no change in passive stress coping, yet exhibited deficits in temporal order memory. Immunohistology analyses showed a decrease in dendritic spine density of Ddit4-OV mice. However, we found no changes in microglia count, microglia size, or nearest neighbor distance. Bulk RNA sequencing of Ddit4-OV PFC revealed increases in transcripts involved with dendrite and synapse function and decreases in transcripts involved with mitochondrial function, implicating mTOR dysregulation. Altogether, these results indicate that <i>Ddit4</i> overexpression recapitulates some of the broad molecular, cellular, and behavioral adaptations observed following chronic stress exposure through a cell-autonomous mechanism.</p>","PeriodicalId":11617,"journal":{"name":"eNeuro","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2026-09-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13548363/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148789803","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}