Hunger modulates exploration through suppression of dopamine signaling in the tail of striatum.

Caloric depletion leads to behavioral changes that help an animal find food and restore its homeostatic balance. Hunger increases exploration and risk-taking behavior, allowing an animal to forage for food despite risks; however, the neural circuitry underlying this change is unknown. Here, we characterize how hunger restructures an animal's spontaneous behavior as well as its directed exploration of a novel object.

Projections between the globus pallidus externa and cortex span motor and non-motor regions.

The globus pallidus externa (GPe) is a heterogenous nucleus of the basal ganglia, with intricate connections to other basal ganglia nuclei, as well as direct connections to the cortex. The anatomic, molecular and electrophysiologic properties of cortex-projecting pallidocortical neurons are not well characterized. Here we show that pallidocortical neurons project to diverse motor and non-motor cortical regions, are organized topographically in the GPe, and segregate into two distinct electrophysiological and molecular phenotypes.

Widespread Neuroanatomical Integration and Distinct Electrophysiological Properties of Glioma-Innervating Neurons.

Unlabelled: Gliomas are the most common malignant primary brain tumors and are often associated with severe neurological deficits and mortality. Unlike many cancers, gliomas rarely metastasize outside the brain, indicating a possible dependency on unique features of brain microenvironment. Synapses between neurons and glioma cells exist, suggesting that glioma cells rely on neuronal inputs and synaptic signaling for proliferation.

Thyroid hormone remodels cortex to coordinate body-wide metabolism and exploration.

Animals adapt to environmental conditions by modifying the function of their internal organs, including the brain. To be adaptive, alterations in behavior must be coordinated with the functional state of organs throughout the body. Here, we find that thyroid hormone-a regulator of metabolism in many peripheral organs-directly activates cell-type-specific transcriptional programs in the frontal cortex of adult male mice.