NeuronPub Date : 2025-08-23DOI: 10.1016/j.neuron.2025.07.030
Patrick J Marino, Lindsay Bahureksa, Carmen Fernández Fisac, Emily R Oby, Adam L Smoulder, Asma Motiwala, Alan D Degenhart, Erinn M Grigsby, Wilsaan M Joiner, Steven M Chase, Byron M Yu, Aaron P Batista
{"title":"A posture subspace in the primary motor cortex.","authors":"Patrick J Marino, Lindsay Bahureksa, Carmen Fernández Fisac, Emily R Oby, Adam L Smoulder, Asma Motiwala, Alan D Degenhart, Erinn M Grigsby, Wilsaan M Joiner, Steven M Chase, Byron M Yu, Aaron P Batista","doi":"10.1016/j.neuron.2025.07.030","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.neuron.2025.07.030","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>To generate movements, the brain must combine information about movement goal and body posture. The motor cortex (primary motor cortex [M1]) is a key node for the convergence of these information streams. How are posture and goal signals organized within M1's activity to permit the flexible generation of movement commands? To answer this question, we recorded M1 activity while monkeys performed a variety of tasks with the forearm in a range of postures. We found that posture- and goal-related components of neural population activity were separable and resided in nearly orthogonal subspaces. The posture subspace was stable across tasks. Within each task, neural trajectories for each goal had similar shapes across postures. Our results reveal a simpler organization of posture signals in M1 than previously recognized. The compartmentalization of posture and goal signals might allow the two to be flexibly combined in the service of our broad repertoire of actions.</p>","PeriodicalId":19313,"journal":{"name":"Neuron","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":15.0,"publicationDate":"2025-08-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144963025","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Structural insights into the activation of TMEM175 by small molecule.","authors":"Xuewu Zhu, Meixuan Ping, Heng Liu, Ting Yu, Zhongwen Jiang, Zhenhua Liu, Chanjing Li, Xinjiao Hou, Qinyu Chu, Shuyao Li, Caiwen Mao, Ting Luo, Chunlan Kang, Feng Wang, Chuanyan Yang, Meiqin Tang, Zhidong Jiang, Zhaobing Gao, Hong Liu, H Eric Xu, Beisha Tang, Xi Cheng, Wanchao Yin, Yu Zhou, Ping Li","doi":"10.1016/j.neuron.2025.07.029","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuron.2025.07.029","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The upregulation of transmembrane protein 175 (TMEM175) has the potential to improve Parkinson's disease (PD) by aiding in the removal of α-synuclein aggregates. Understanding the structural basis of TMEM175 agonisms is crucial for uncovering its therapeutic potential for PD. Here, we have identified the first cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) structure of human TMEM175 complexes with three agonists: DCY1020, DCY1040, and TUG-891. An open state of TMEM175 is unequivocally captured, laying the groundwork for designing more effective agonists. Further investigations using surface plasmon resonance, systematic mutagenesis, whole-endolysosome patch-clamp techniques, and molecular dynamics simulations consistently revealed that DCY1020/1040 binds at the interface between two subunits, inducing an open conformation further augmented by the synergistic agonist TUG-891. Notably, these agonists facilitate the removal of pathological α-synuclein and restore functions of PD-related TMEM175 variants in neurons. Our findings provide proof of concept that drug discovery targeting TMEM175 can develop agonists capable of effectively reducing pathological α-synuclein levels in PD.</p>","PeriodicalId":19313,"journal":{"name":"Neuron","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":15.0,"publicationDate":"2025-08-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144962962","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
NeuronPub Date : 2025-08-22DOI: 10.1016/j.neuron.2025.07.028
Zhibing Xiao, Xiongfei Wang, Jinbo Zhang, Jianxin Ou, Li He, Yukun Qu, Xiangyu Hu, Timothy E J Behrens, Yunzhe Liu
{"title":"Human hippocampal ripples align new experiences with a grid-like schema.","authors":"Zhibing Xiao, Xiongfei Wang, Jinbo Zhang, Jianxin Ou, Li He, Yukun Qu, Xiangyu Hu, Timothy E J Behrens, Yunzhe Liu","doi":"10.1016/j.neuron.2025.07.028","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuron.2025.07.028","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Humans form cognitive maps that enable inferences beyond direct experience, relying on hexagonal grid-cell-like neural codes as a schema for two-dimensional (2D) spaces. However, how new experiences align with this schema remains unknown. We recorded intracranial activity from 42 epilepsy patients while they learned rank relations among feature objects, then combined these features into compounds occupying a 2D conceptual space. Hippocampal ripples during brief pauses between learning trials increased with experience, signaling integration of the learned ranks. Crucially, ripple activity during post-learning rest predicted the later appearance of grid-like codes in the entorhinal and medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) when participants inferred unseen relations among compounds. Ripples synchronized with mPFC during rest were specifically associated with later schema-based inference rather than direct memory retrieval. These findings show that hippocampal ripples align new experiences with an existing grid-like schema, transforming discrete events into structured knowledge that supports flexible reasoning in human cognition.</p>","PeriodicalId":19313,"journal":{"name":"Neuron","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":15.0,"publicationDate":"2025-08-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144963033","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
NeuronPub Date : 2025-08-20Epub Date: 2025-04-30DOI: 10.1016/j.neuron.2025.04.006
Alessio Silva, Robert Prior, Maurizio D'Antonio, Johannes V Swinnen, Ludo Van Den Bosch
{"title":"Lipid metabolism alterations in peripheral neuropathies.","authors":"Alessio Silva, Robert Prior, Maurizio D'Antonio, Johannes V Swinnen, Ludo Van Den Bosch","doi":"10.1016/j.neuron.2025.04.006","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.neuron.2025.04.006","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Alterations in lipid metabolism are increasingly recognized as central pathological hallmarks of inherited and acquired peripheral neuropathies. Correct lipid balance is critical for cellular homeostasis. However, the mechanisms linking lipid disturbances to cellular dysfunction and whether these changes are primary drivers or secondary effects of disease remain unresolved. This is particularly relevant in the peripheral nervous system, where the lipid-rich myelin integrity is critical for axonal function, and even subtle perturbations can cause widespread effects. This review explores the role of lipids as structural components as well as signaling molecules, emphasizing their metabolic role in peripheral neurons and Schwann cells. Additionally, we explore the genetic and environmental connections in both inherited and acquired peripheral neuropathies, respectively, which are known to affect lipid metabolism in peripheral neurons or Schwann cells. Overall, we highlight how understanding lipid-centric mechanisms could advance biomarker discovery and therapeutic interventions for peripheral nerve disorders.</p>","PeriodicalId":19313,"journal":{"name":"Neuron","volume":" ","pages":"2556-2581"},"PeriodicalIF":15.0,"publicationDate":"2025-08-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144006599","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
NeuronPub Date : 2025-08-20Epub Date: 2025-07-24DOI: 10.1016/j.neuron.2025.05.028
Jianbao Wang, Yipeng Liu, Yuhan Ma, Yuqi Feng, Libo Lin, An Ping, Feiyan Tian, Xiaotong Zhang, Avery J L Berman, Saskia Bollmann, Jonathan R Polimeni, Anna Wang Roe
{"title":"In vivo 7 Tesla MRI of non-human primate intracortical microvascular architecture.","authors":"Jianbao Wang, Yipeng Liu, Yuhan Ma, Yuqi Feng, Libo Lin, An Ping, Feiyan Tian, Xiaotong Zhang, Avery J L Berman, Saskia Bollmann, Jonathan R Polimeni, Anna Wang Roe","doi":"10.1016/j.neuron.2025.05.028","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.neuron.2025.05.028","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Intracortical arterioles are key locations for blood flow regulation and oxygen supply in the brain and are critical to brain health and disease. However, imaging such small (<100-μm-sized) vessels in humans is challenging. Here, using non-human primates as a model, we developed a capability for imaging microvasculature in vivo with a clinical 7 T MRI scanner. Using simulations, we identified parameters for imaging intracortical vessels with slow flow and combined this with high-resolution imaging (64 × 64 μm<sup>2</sup> in-plane). Across large swaths of occipital, parietal, and temporal cortex, arrays of intracortical arterioles and venules were observed in gyral crowns and deep within sulcal folds. Systematic arteriole-venule patterns revealed potential architecture of input-output flow relationships. Even single vessels could be followed across cortical laminae. As a first step toward imaging microvasculature in humans, this method introduces a new technology and animal model for understanding relationships between functional and vascular architectures.</p>","PeriodicalId":19313,"journal":{"name":"Neuron","volume":" ","pages":"2621-2635.e5"},"PeriodicalIF":15.0,"publicationDate":"2025-08-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144718241","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
NeuronPub Date : 2025-08-20DOI: 10.1016/j.neuron.2025.07.021
Ibukun Akinrinade, Jaideep S Bains
{"title":"The hypothalamic \"glucostat'': CRF neurons decode energy signals.","authors":"Ibukun Akinrinade, Jaideep S Bains","doi":"10.1016/j.neuron.2025.07.021","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuron.2025.07.021","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Food deprivation shifts the body's metabolic priority toward glucose utilization as a primary fuel source. A study by Kim et al.<sup>1</sup> published in this issue of Neuron identifies a distinct population of neurons in the brain as essential for detecting this metabolic state and orchestrating adaptive responses.</p>","PeriodicalId":19313,"journal":{"name":"Neuron","volume":"113 16","pages":"2552-2553"},"PeriodicalIF":15.0,"publicationDate":"2025-08-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144963139","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
NeuronPub Date : 2025-08-20Epub Date: 2025-06-23DOI: 10.1016/j.neuron.2025.05.020
Keith B Hengen, Woodrow L Shew
{"title":"Is criticality a unified setpoint of brain function?","authors":"Keith B Hengen, Woodrow L Shew","doi":"10.1016/j.neuron.2025.05.020","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.neuron.2025.05.020","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Brains face selective pressure to optimize computation, broadly defined. This is achieved by mechanisms including development, plasticity, and homeostasis. Is there a universal optimum around which the healthy brain tunes itself, across time and individuals? The criticality hypothesis posits such a setpoint. Criticality is a state imbued with internally generated, multiscale, marginally stable dynamics that maximize the features of information processing. Experimental support emerged two decades ago and has accumulated at an accelerating pace despite disagreement. Here, we lay out the logic of criticality as a general computational endpoint and review experimental evidence. We perform a meta-analysis of 140 datasets published between 2003 and 2024. We find that a long-standing controversy is the product of a methodological choice with no bearing on underlying dynamics. Our results suggest that a new generation of research can leverage criticality-as a unifying principle of brain function-to accelerate understanding of behavior, cognition, and disease.</p>","PeriodicalId":19313,"journal":{"name":"Neuron","volume":" ","pages":"2582-2598.e2"},"PeriodicalIF":15.0,"publicationDate":"2025-08-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12374783/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144485209","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
NeuronPub Date : 2025-08-20Epub Date: 2025-06-10DOI: 10.1016/j.neuron.2025.05.019
Ling Wu, Vijaya Pandey, Vanessa H Casha, Zhe Qu, Yasaman Jami-Alahmadi, Viviana Gradinaru, James A Wohlschlegel, Baljit S Khakh
{"title":"The cell-surface shared proteome of astrocytes and neurons and the molecular foundations of their multicellular interactions.","authors":"Ling Wu, Vijaya Pandey, Vanessa H Casha, Zhe Qu, Yasaman Jami-Alahmadi, Viviana Gradinaru, James A Wohlschlegel, Baljit S Khakh","doi":"10.1016/j.neuron.2025.05.019","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.neuron.2025.05.019","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Neurons and astrocytes are predominant brain cells that extensively interact, but the molecular basis of their interactions remains largely unexplored. We identified and mapped striatal astrocytic and neuronal cell-surface proteins (CSPs) and found that many were shared, representing the cell-surface shared proteome of astrocytes and neurons (CS SPAN) bridging striatal astrocyte-neuron interaction sites. CS SPAN was replete with extracellular matrix proteins, cell adhesion molecules, transporters, ion channels, and G protein-coupled receptors. By mapping the cellular origins of astrocytic CSPs, we identified astrocytic interactions with diverse parenchymal cells. Broadly concordant with human data, in a mouse model of Huntington's disease (HD), pathophysiology and its genetic attenuation were accompanied by altered and restored CS SPAN and CSPs, respectively. CS SPAN also included molecules dysregulated in diverse brain disorders. Our study reveals the astrocyte-neuron interface in molecular terms and provides a mechanistic foundation for exploring its physiological roles and contributions to brain diseases.</p>","PeriodicalId":19313,"journal":{"name":"Neuron","volume":" ","pages":"2599-2620.e7"},"PeriodicalIF":15.0,"publicationDate":"2025-08-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12354340/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144275480","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Voltage imaging reveals circuit computations in the raphe underlying serotonin-mediated motor vigor learning.","authors":"Takashi Kawashima, Ziqiang Wei, Ravid Haruvi, Inbal Shainer, Sujatha Narayan, Herwig Baier, Misha B Ahrens","doi":"10.1016/j.neuron.2025.05.017","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.neuron.2025.05.017","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>As animals adapt to new situations, neuromodulation is a potent way to alter behavior, yet mechanisms by which neuromodulatory nuclei compute during behavior are underexplored. The serotonergic raphe supports motor learning in larval zebrafish by visually detecting distance traveled during swims, encoding action effectiveness, and modulating motor vigor. We tracked the raphe's input-output computations at millisecond timescales using voltage and neurotransmitter imaging and found that swimming opens a gate for visual input to cause spiking in serotonergic neurons, enabling the encoding of action outcomes and filtering out learning-irrelevant visual signals. Specifically, swim commands initially inhibited serotonergic neurons via γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA). Immediately after, membrane voltage increased via post-inhibitory rebound, allowing swim-induced visual motion to evoke firing through glutamate, triggering serotonin release to modulate future motor vigor. Ablating local GABAergic neurons impaired raphe coding and motor learning. Thus, serotonergic neuromodulation arises from action-outcome coincidence detection within the raphe.</p>","PeriodicalId":19313,"journal":{"name":"Neuron","volume":" ","pages":"2692-2707.e8"},"PeriodicalIF":15.0,"publicationDate":"2025-08-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144275481","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
NeuronPub Date : 2025-08-20Epub Date: 2025-06-10DOI: 10.1016/j.neuron.2025.05.018
Robert Louis Treuting, Kianoush Banaie Boroujeni, Charles Grimes Gerrity, Adam Neumann, Paul Tiesinga, Thilo Womelsdorf
{"title":"Adaptive reinforcement learning is causally supported by anterior cingulate cortex and striatum.","authors":"Robert Louis Treuting, Kianoush Banaie Boroujeni, Charles Grimes Gerrity, Adam Neumann, Paul Tiesinga, Thilo Womelsdorf","doi":"10.1016/j.neuron.2025.05.018","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.neuron.2025.05.018","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Reinforcement learning can benefit from adaptive strategies that adjust exploration-exploitation levels, leverage working memory, or guide attention toward relevant information. We tested how the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and the striatum support these processes during learning of feature-based attention at varying feature uncertainty and motivational saliency. Brief, gaze-contingent electrical stimulation affected adaptive reinforcement learning in ACC and the striatum at high feature uncertainty, but in opposite ways. ACC stimulation impaired learning, while striatum stimulation improved learning. Modeling showed that ACC stimulation impaired optimizing exploration and use of prediction errors to reduce uncertainty, while striatum stimulation improved the updating of value expectations. These findings were consistent with neuronal selectivity. In ACC, neurons tracked error history and fired more strongly during more uncertain choices, while in the striatum, neurons fired more strongly during more certain, higher-value choices. These results show that the ACC and the striatum optimize the guidance of exploration toward reward-relevant objects during periods of uncertainty.</p>","PeriodicalId":19313,"journal":{"name":"Neuron","volume":" ","pages":"2708-2723.e7"},"PeriodicalIF":15.0,"publicationDate":"2025-08-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144275479","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}