{"title":"How Salient Sensory Stimuli Induce Brain-Wide State Alterations.","authors":"Meijie Li, KaMun Tan, Tehao Liu, Kexin Yuan 苑克鑫","doi":"10.1146/annurev-neuro-112723-034728","DOIUrl":"10.1146/annurev-neuro-112723-034728","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The brain is a highly integrated organ, capable of dynamically adjusting its internal states through interactions with the ever-changing environment. This moment-to-moment control underlies the process from sensory perception to behavioral output, reflecting the essence of biological intelligence. However, the broad and ambiguous concept of \"brain state\" poses challenges for unifying research findings and deciphering the neural logic underlying sensory-induced state changes. Here, we focus on arousal-an essential and quantifiable dimension of brain state-which we further subdivide into general arousal and behavior-relevant specific arousal. Building on recent advances, we examine how salient sensory stimuli rapidly drive state transitions to promote adaptive behavior. We further highlight conserved features shared across subcortical sensory systems and provide an abstract framework for how distinct systems couple sensory input to arousal levels. This perspective clarifies mechanisms underlying behavioral flexibility and sensory consciousness, offering a unified framework for interpreting diverse findings in the field.</p>","PeriodicalId":8008,"journal":{"name":"Annual review of neuroscience","volume":" ","pages":"143-166"},"PeriodicalIF":13.8,"publicationDate":"2026-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147503041","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":"Body-Brain Integration: The Lower Brainstem in Sleep-Wake Regulation.","authors":"Yuanyuan Yao, Yang Dan","doi":"10.1146/annurev-neuro-082625-012115","DOIUrl":"10.1146/annurev-neuro-082625-012115","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The lower brainstem is a key hub linking visceral physiology with the regulation of brain states. This review synthesizes recent findings demonstrating how several nuclei within this region-including the nucleus of the solitary tract (NST), parabrachial nucleus (PBN), and other medullary circuits-function as an integrated network that couples sleep-wake regulation to the body's homeostatic demands. The NST serves as a central gateway, translating cardiovascular, immune, and digestive signals into a sleep drive, whereas the PBN plays a pivotal role in processing threat-related inputs to promote arousal. Several populations of GABAergic neurons in the medulla induce both motor suppression and sleep. In addition, cholinergic neurons in the nucleus ambiguus and catecholaminergic cells in the ventrolateral medulla and locus coeruleus regulate sleep-wake states together with somatic and autonomic motor activity. Collectively, these findings establish the brainstem not merely as a collection of reflex centers but as a master coordinator aligning global brain states with peripheral bodily functions.</p>","PeriodicalId":8008,"journal":{"name":"Annual review of neuroscience","volume":" ","pages":"355-370"},"PeriodicalIF":13.8,"publicationDate":"2026-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147728078","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":"Synucleins in Neural Physiology: Understanding Endogenous Function to Better Contextualize Pathology.","authors":"Garrett D Sheehan, Jun B Ding","doi":"10.1146/annurev-neuro-112723-051616","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-neuro-112723-051616","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Perhaps most well-known for its penetrant role in synucleinopathies, alpha-synuclein's nonpathological function remains incompletely characterized. Most widely regarded as a putative presynaptic protein, a growing body of work over the last few decades demonstrates that alpha-synuclein participates in a broad and more diverse set of neuronal functions. Alpha-synuclein is a small, intrinsically disordered protein comprising three functionally distinct regions that mediate membrane binding, vesicle clustering, and protein-protein interactions. At synapses, alpha-synuclein participates in multiple steps of neurotransmission, including organization of the vesicle reserve pool, recruitment of release machinery, and recycling of synaptic vesicles. Emerging evidence further supports roles for alpha-synuclein beyond classical presynaptic compartments, including interactions with nonsynaptic membranes and secretion via extracellular vesicles. This review aims to integrate the literature on alpha-synuclein's structure and function to better underscore how these properties may contribute to vulnerability in disease when these normal functions are lost.</p>","PeriodicalId":8008,"journal":{"name":"Annual review of neuroscience","volume":"49 1","pages":"273-288"},"PeriodicalIF":13.8,"publicationDate":"2026-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148409960","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":"Neural Circuits of Social and Physiological Needs.","authors":"Ding Liu, Catherine Dulac","doi":"10.1146/annurev-neuro-112723-025633","DOIUrl":"10.1146/annurev-neuro-112723-025633","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Physiological needs, such as the need for food, water, and sleep, are fulfilled through homeostatic processes by which brain circuits monitor changes in internal states and trigger goal-directed behaviors, such as eating, drinking, and sleeping, that are aimed to restore physiological balance. Increasing evidence, in humans and animals alike, points to social interaction as yet another fundamental need regulated by homeostatic processes. In this review, we highlight recent efforts to identify neuronal circuits and cell populations underlying social drive, social satiety, and overall social homeostasis, and we compare newly identified neural and molecular mechanisms governing social and physiological needs. We summarize shared and distinct features across distinct needs at the levels of behavioral expression, neuronal circuit function, molecular mechanisms, and sensory modulation. Findings across distinct homeostatic systems offer broad insights into the organizational principles of homeostatic regulation and lay ground for new avenues of research on the brain response to social isolation.</p>","PeriodicalId":8008,"journal":{"name":"Annual review of neuroscience","volume":" ","pages":"1-18"},"PeriodicalIF":13.8,"publicationDate":"2026-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145761987","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}
Zoe G Beatty, Matthew G Kearney, Olga Ponomareva, Kerry J Ressler
{"title":"Neurobiology of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder: Circuits, Genomics, and Treatment.","authors":"Zoe G Beatty, Matthew G Kearney, Olga Ponomareva, Kerry J Ressler","doi":"10.1146/annurev-neuro-102124-033854","DOIUrl":"10.1146/annurev-neuro-102124-033854","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is unique in its requirement of an external stressor for the development of disease, leading to dysregulated mood, intrusive memories, and avoidance symptoms. Over the past decade, insights from human neuroimaging, mechanistic neural circuitry studies in animal models, and genomic work have revolutionized our understanding of this psychiatric illness, with emerging data from large-scale PTSD genome-wide association studies providing novel insights into the mechanism of PTSD. Despite these advances, therapeutic interventions remain limited, and psychotherapy remains the first-line treatment over pharmacological interventions. Here, we review the basic epidemiology of PTSD with an overview of common types of trauma, neurocircuits and molecular mechanisms contributing to fear learning, genomics studies, and current and emerging treatments. Although PTSD remains highly prevalent, recent advances and emerging identification of neural circuits and putative molecular targets offer an exciting opportunity to advance the treatment of this debilitating condition.</p>","PeriodicalId":8008,"journal":{"name":"Annual review of neuroscience","volume":" ","pages":"309-329"},"PeriodicalIF":13.8,"publicationDate":"2026-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147615657","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":"Neural Control of Homeothermy, Torpor, and Hibernation.","authors":"Eric C Griffith, Siniša Hrvatin","doi":"10.1146/annurev-neuro-082625-125306","DOIUrl":"10.1146/annurev-neuro-082625-125306","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Homeothermy, the physiologic capacity to maintain a constant core body temperature, provided a critical survival advantage for mammalian and avian phyla, enabling the colonization of diverse habitats. However, the higher metabolic demands associated with homeothermy necessitate greater food intake. When challenged by food deprivation or harsh environmental conditions, many mammalian and avian species initiate adaptive energy-conserving survival strategies-including hibernation and daily torpor-during which their body temperature decreases far below its homeostatic range. Despite their biological significance and potential biomedical applications, the neural circuit mechanisms regulating entry into these hypometabolic states and their relationship to characterized thermoregulatory pathways remain to be fully elucidated. Here we review known thermoregulatory mechanisms and recent findings concerning the neural control of torpor and hibernation to identify points of convergence as well as important next steps in pursuit of an understanding of these regulatory pathways.</p>","PeriodicalId":8008,"journal":{"name":"Annual review of neuroscience","volume":"49 1","pages":"517-535"},"PeriodicalIF":13.8,"publicationDate":"2026-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148409896","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":"Sex Hormone Control of Neurophysiology and Behavior.","authors":"Simón E D Sun, Jessica Tollkuhn","doi":"10.1146/annurev-neuro-102124-031128","DOIUrl":"10.1146/annurev-neuro-102124-031128","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Sex hormones are a primary source for biological variation throughout the animal kingdom, from morphological characteristics to elaborate courtship displays. These steroids, such as estrogens and androgens, are indispensable for the development and function of the nervous tissues that mediate sex differences in reproduction, metabolism, and social behavior. Crucially, the cognate receptors for sex hormones are transcription factors that bind DNA to regulate expression of nearby genes. Although there has been substantial recent progress in dissecting the neural circuitry that regulates sex-differential behaviors, there is a dearth of understanding regarding how sex hormones act on this circuitry to modulate behavior. Here, we focus on the transcriptional actions of sex hormone receptors and the functions of their target genes, particularly voltage-gated ion channels. We put forth a framework in which sex hormone receptor modulation of gene expression affects cell activity states across interconnected brain regions, leading to emergent social behaviors.</p>","PeriodicalId":8008,"journal":{"name":"Annual review of neuroscience","volume":" ","pages":"167-187"},"PeriodicalIF":13.8,"publicationDate":"2026-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147490470","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}
Andrea Castegnaro, Misun Kim, Katarzyna Rudzka, Neil Burgess
{"title":"Path Integration in Alzheimer's Disease: Orientation, Movement, and Theta Rhythmicity.","authors":"Andrea Castegnaro, Misun Kim, Katarzyna Rudzka, Neil Burgess","doi":"10.1146/annurev-neuro-102124-020226","DOIUrl":"10.1146/annurev-neuro-102124-020226","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Path integration (PI), the ability to keep track of position and orientation from self-motion, is a sensitive cognitive marker of Alzheimer's disease. While entorhinal grid cells are central to PI, we focus here on the broader functional circuit supporting PI and the impact of Alzheimer's disease within it. This circuit includes orientation from head direction cells, landmark-based error correction, and signals encoding current or intended movement direction, which we suggest may rely on theta-modulated directional cells and theta sweeps in grid and place cell firing. The early vulnerability of PI, particularly angular PI, may reflect multiple sources: pathology in the anterodorsal thalamus degrading head direction coding; disrupted theta rhythmicity and thus theta-modulated directional signals, potentially reflecting cholinergic dysfunction; and retrosplenial landmark-resetting failures allowing angular drift. We advocate for further cross-species investigation of PI tasks with electrophysiological measures to fully identify the underlying circuit mechanisms and their impairment in Alzheimer's disease.</p>","PeriodicalId":8008,"journal":{"name":"Annual review of neuroscience","volume":" ","pages":"451-470"},"PeriodicalIF":13.8,"publicationDate":"2026-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7619079/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147697236","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":"Functional Logic of a Cognitive Brain System for Navigation.","authors":"Gaby Maimon, L F Abbott","doi":"10.1146/annurev-neuro-112723-062711","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-neuro-112723-062711","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>It is unusual for cognitive neuroscientists to reach consensus around which computations a brain region implements, what algorithms are used to achieve those computations and how the algorithms are implemented by cells and circuits (i.e., Marr's three levels of analysis). Over the past decade, there has been notable progress in delineating such a unified functional understanding in the <i>Drosophila</i> central complex. In this review, we summarize how the central complex operates as a computational device that calculates the values of angles and two-dimensional vectors important for navigational behavior. Appreciating how these insights were made in <i>Drosophila</i> suggests a roadmap for reaching a similar level of understanding in larger brains.</p>","PeriodicalId":8008,"journal":{"name":"Annual review of neuroscience","volume":"49 1","pages":"411-434"},"PeriodicalIF":13.8,"publicationDate":"2026-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148409920","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":"Roles of Thalamocortical Axons in Cerebral Cortical Development.","authors":"Yasushi Nakagawa","doi":"10.1146/annurev-neuro-102124-033959","DOIUrl":"10.1146/annurev-neuro-102124-033959","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>In the adult mammalian brain, thalamocortical input supports key cortical functions by conveying ascending information from subcortical sensory and motor centers and linking different cortical areas. Studies in the 1980s revealed that these afferent projections are also critical for building the mature neocortex, which is composed of six layers and dozens of anatomically and functionally distinct areas. Recent studies have begun to provide a comprehensive view of cortical development, encompassing early regionalization of immature cortical tissue, distinct behaviors of various progenitor cell types, fate specification of neurons forming the six layers, and morphological and functional maturation of each neuronal type leading to the formation of distinct areas. Many of these processes are now known to be influenced by thalamocortical input. This review highlights the historical contexts in which the roles of the thalamus were uncovered, drawing on evidence from a wide range of organisms, cortical regions, and cell types.</p>","PeriodicalId":8008,"journal":{"name":"Annual review of neuroscience","volume":" ","pages":"125-141"},"PeriodicalIF":13.8,"publicationDate":"2026-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147490479","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}