Silvia Anderle, Michael Dixon, Tania Quintela-Lopez, George Sideris-Lampretsas, David Attwell
{"title":"The vascular contribution to cognitive decline in ageing and dementia","authors":"Silvia Anderle, Michael Dixon, Tania Quintela-Lopez, George Sideris-Lampretsas, David Attwell","doi":"10.1038/s41583-025-00950-1","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41583-025-00950-1","url":null,"abstract":"There is increasing evidence to suggest that vascular dysfunction can contribute to cognitive decline in ageing and dementia. This dysfunction can take the form of a reduction of cerebral blood flow (CBF), a loss of blood–brain barrier (BBB) function or a combination of the two. Indeed, CBF and BBB changes may be causally linked, although this possible causality and its directionality are understudied. Appreciation of the role of vascular dysfunction in initiating cognitive decline in ageing and dementia, as well as the mechanisms involved, is important because it opens up new avenues for the development of much-needed therapies for these conditions, which are becoming major causes of death. Here we assess the evidence for the importance of vascular contributions to dementia, draw parallels with changes that occur in normal ageing and discuss the initiating cells and signalling mechanisms involved. We suggest that attempting to maintain or restore CBF should be a central aim of therapeutic strategies. Growing evidence suggests that reduced cerebral blood flow contributes to cognitive decline in ageing and dementia. Attwell and colleagues discuss the underlying mechanisms and functional consequences of vascular dysfunction in ageing, Alzheimer disease and vascular dementia, and consider the implications for therapeutic interventions.","PeriodicalId":49142,"journal":{"name":"Nature Reviews Neuroscience","volume":"26 10","pages":"591-606"},"PeriodicalIF":26.7,"publicationDate":"2025-08-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144777990","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":"A maturing view on interneuron development","authors":"Darran Yates","doi":"10.1038/s41583-025-00955-w","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41583-025-00955-w","url":null,"abstract":"Neuronal activity drives parvalbumin-expressing interneuron maturation in the mouse cortex via its effects on the transcriptional cofactor PGC1α.","PeriodicalId":49142,"journal":{"name":"Nature Reviews Neuroscience","volume":"26 9","pages":"518-518"},"PeriodicalIF":26.7,"publicationDate":"2025-08-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144777991","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":"Prior learning governs human experience-based risk-taking","authors":"Jake Rogers","doi":"10.1038/s41583-025-00953-y","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41583-025-00953-y","url":null,"abstract":"Prior learning, rather than decision-making-related processes, primarily shapes the subjective experience-based weighting humans assign to potential losses and gains during choices involving monetary risk-taking.","PeriodicalId":49142,"journal":{"name":"Nature Reviews Neuroscience","volume":"26 9","pages":"519-519"},"PeriodicalIF":26.7,"publicationDate":"2025-07-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144747438","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}
Teresa Guillamón-Vivancos, Mar Aníbal-Martínez, Lorenzo Puche-Aroca, Francisco J. Martini, Guillermina López-Bendito
{"title":"Sensory modality-specific wiring of thalamocortical circuits","authors":"Teresa Guillamón-Vivancos, Mar Aníbal-Martínez, Lorenzo Puche-Aroca, Francisco J. Martini, Guillermina López-Bendito","doi":"10.1038/s41583-025-00945-y","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41583-025-00945-y","url":null,"abstract":"The thalamus is an essential element for sensory information processing, serving as a link between peripheral sensory stimuli and cortical circuits. Consequently, the development of thalamocortical (TC) projections has been a central focus in systems neuroscience. Although substantial progress has been made in understanding the mechanisms guiding thalamic axon navigation from the diencephalon to the cortex, our understanding of the processes underlying sensory modality specificity in TC circuits remains incomplete. Modern genomic, physiological and imaging approaches have yielded exciting results, providing novel insights into the specialization of visual, somatosensory and auditory TC circuits. Recent findings have shed light on the genetic and spontaneous activity mechanisms involved in the formation of distinct sensory modalities, rekindling the interest in the thalamus and opening new research perspectives on the development of this diencephalic structure. The use of transcriptomic technologies has led to advances in our understanding of thalamocortical targeting during development. In this Review, Guillamón-Vivancos et al. discuss these advances in the context of how transcriptomic changes and neuronal activity work in concert to drive sensory modality specificity during the development of thalamic sensory nuclei.","PeriodicalId":49142,"journal":{"name":"Nature Reviews Neuroscience","volume":"26 10","pages":"623-641"},"PeriodicalIF":26.7,"publicationDate":"2025-07-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144747435","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":"Eye movements provide insight into amnesia","authors":"Mariam Aly","doi":"10.1038/s41583-025-00952-z","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41583-025-00952-z","url":null,"abstract":"In this Journal Club, Mariam Aly discusses a 2000 study that attempted to settle the debate about whether implicit memories are lost or retained in amnesia.","PeriodicalId":49142,"journal":{"name":"Nature Reviews Neuroscience","volume":"26 10","pages":"588-588"},"PeriodicalIF":26.7,"publicationDate":"2025-07-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144715361","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}
Charles A. Nelson, Eileen F. Sullivan, Viviane Valdes
{"title":"Early adversity alters brain architecture and increases susceptibility to mental health disorders","authors":"Charles A. Nelson, Eileen F. Sullivan, Viviane Valdes","doi":"10.1038/s41583-025-00948-9","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41583-025-00948-9","url":null,"abstract":"Each year, millions of children around the world are exposed to a host of adverse experiences early in life. These include various forms of maltreatment, growing up in unsafe neighbourhoods, and witnessing intimate partner violence. These experiences exact a toll on the brain development and mental health of children. In this Review, we attempt to explain how brain architecture and circuitry are affected by exposure to such early adversity, which in turn increases susceptibility to mental health disorders later in life. We begin defining what we mean by early adversity and then summarize the experience-dependent nature of postnatal brain development. Within this context, we discuss times in development when the brain is particularly receptive to experience (critical periods) and, thus, is more vulnerable to adverse experiences. Drawing from studies with both rodent and non-human primate models and neuroimaging research with humans, we next discuss how the circuitry of the brain is affected by early-life adversity, with a focus on the subsequent effects upon neural network development. We then review the mental health consequences of adverse experiences in early life across mental health disorders and within specific dimensions of psychopathology. We conclude by offering a conceptual model of the pathway that links exposure to adversity early in life to these mental health outcomes later in life, and we provide suggestions for future research. Adverse experiences in early life affect brain development across species. In this Review, Nelson, Sullivan and Valdes discuss neuroimaging evidence for how these adversity-induced changes to human brain architecture alter developmental trajectories that may underpin adult psychopathology.","PeriodicalId":49142,"journal":{"name":"Nature Reviews Neuroscience","volume":"26 10","pages":"642-656"},"PeriodicalIF":26.7,"publicationDate":"2025-07-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144694064","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}
Fernando E. Rosas, Andrea I. Luppi, Pedro A. M. Mediano, Morten L. Kringelbach, Luiz Pessoa, Federico Turkheimer
{"title":"Top-down and bottom-up neuroscience: overcoming the clash of research cultures","authors":"Fernando E. Rosas, Andrea I. Luppi, Pedro A. M. Mediano, Morten L. Kringelbach, Luiz Pessoa, Federico Turkheimer","doi":"10.1038/s41583-025-00946-x","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41583-025-00946-x","url":null,"abstract":"As scientists, we want solid answers, but we also want to answer questions that matter. Yet, the brain’s complexity forces trade-offs between these desiderata, bringing about two distinct research approaches in neuroscience that we describe as ‘top-down’ and ‘bottom-up’. Recognizing the validity of both approaches dispels misunderstandings and unnecessary tension and promotes constructive interactions.","PeriodicalId":49142,"journal":{"name":"Nature Reviews Neuroscience","volume":"26 9","pages":"513-515"},"PeriodicalIF":26.7,"publicationDate":"2025-07-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144677247","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":"Reward encoded relative to experience","authors":"Jake Rogers","doi":"10.1038/s41583-025-00951-0","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41583-025-00951-0","url":null,"abstract":"Population activity of hippocampal place cells in mice flexibly encodes reward-relative representations of experience, which can amplify behaviorally relevant sequences of events in memory.","PeriodicalId":49142,"journal":{"name":"Nature Reviews Neuroscience","volume":"26 9","pages":"517-517"},"PeriodicalIF":26.7,"publicationDate":"2025-07-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144652571","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":"Towards single-cell-resolution global maps of mammalian brains","authors":"Chengyu T. Li, Wu Wei","doi":"10.1038/s41583-025-00949-8","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41583-025-00949-8","url":null,"abstract":"Brain cell atlases are revolutionizing neuroscience by using single-cell and spatial genomics to reveal the brain’s cellular diversity across development, function and disease. Fully realizing the potential of these atlases requires continued technology improvement, multimodal data integration and strategies to address ethical challenges, paving the way for transformative discoveries in neuroscience and clinical applications.","PeriodicalId":49142,"journal":{"name":"Nature Reviews Neuroscience","volume":"26 10","pages":"579-580"},"PeriodicalIF":26.7,"publicationDate":"2025-07-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144640384","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}
Tongtong Wang, Avedis Tufenkjian, Olujimi A. Ajijola, Yuki Oka
{"title":"Molecular and functional diversity of the autonomic nervous system","authors":"Tongtong Wang, Avedis Tufenkjian, Olujimi A. Ajijola, Yuki Oka","doi":"10.1038/s41583-025-00941-2","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41583-025-00941-2","url":null,"abstract":"The autonomic nervous system (ANS) plays a pivotal role in regulating organ functions through descending brain-to-body signalling. The pathways involved are broadly categorized into two major branches: the sympathetic nervous system, which mediates ‘fight or flight’ responses, and the parasympathetic nervous system, which governs ‘rest and digest’ functions. Historically, the ANS was considered to mediate simple motor functions with limited neurochemical diversity. However, recent advances in neurotechnology have shown that brain-to-body communication is more complex and dynamic than previously appreciated. This review synthesizes current knowledge about the molecular, anatomical and functional diversity of autonomic motor neurons. Here we present a comparative analysis of the cellular architecture of the ANS and the suggested roles of distinct neuron populations. Additionally, we explore the emerging view that the ANS interacts with diverse systems involving metabolism, immunology and ageing, which extends its role beyond simple brain–organ modulation. Finally, we emphasize the need for cell-type-specific and longitudinal studies of the ANS to uncover novel mechanisms underlying body–brain interactions and to identify new translational opportunities for therapeutic interventions. The autonomic nervous system has long been viewed as a simple motor system in brain-to-body signalling. In this review, Wang and colleagues highlight diversity within autonomic neurons and their dynamic roles across physiological systems and disease contexts.","PeriodicalId":49142,"journal":{"name":"Nature Reviews Neuroscience","volume":"26 10","pages":"607-622"},"PeriodicalIF":26.7,"publicationDate":"2025-07-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144546985","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}