Neurotransmitter content heterogeneity within an interneuron class shapes inhibitory transmission at a central synapse.

Neurotransmitter content is deemed the most basic defining criterion for neuronal classes, contrasting with the intercellular heterogeneity of many other molecular and functional features. Here we show, in the adult mouse brain, that neurotransmitter content variegation within a neuronal class is a component of its functional heterogeneity. Golgi cells (GoCs), the well-defined class of cerebellar interneurons inhibiting granule cells (GrCs), contain cytosolic glycine, accumulated by the neuronal transporter GlyT2, and GABA in various proportions.

p53/p21 pathway activation contributes to the ependymal fate decision downstream of GemC1.

Multiciliated ependymal cells and adult neural stem cells are components of the adult neurogenic niche, essential for brain homeostasis. These cells share a common glial cell lineage regulated by the Geminin family members Geminin and GemC1/Mcidas. Ependymal precursors require GemC1/Mcidas expression to massively amplify centrioles and become multiciliated cells.

Cerebellar stimulation prevents Levodopa-induced dyskinesia in mice and normalizes activity in a motor network.

Chronic Levodopa therapy, the gold-standard treatment for Parkinson's Disease (PD), leads to the emergence of involuntary movements, called levodopa-induced dyskinesia (LID). Cerebellar stimulation has been shown to decrease LID severity in PD patients. Here, in order to determine how cerebellar stimulation induces LID alleviation, we performed daily short trains of optogenetic stimulations of Purkinje cells (PC) in freely moving LID mice.

Dynamic interplay between thalamic activity and Cajal-Retzius cells regulates the wiring of cortical layer 1.

Cortical wiring relies on guidepost cells and activity-dependent processes that are thought to act sequentially. Here, we show that the construction of layer 1 (L1), a main site of top-down integration, is regulated by crosstalk between transient Cajal-Retzius cells (CRc) and spontaneous activity of the thalamus, a main driver of bottom-up information. While activity was known to regulate CRc migration and elimination, we found that prenatal spontaneous thalamic activity and NMDA receptors selectively control CRc early density, without affecting their demise.

NMDARs in granule cells contribute to parallel fiber-Purkinje cell synaptic plasticity and motor learning.

Long-term synaptic plasticity is believed to be the cellular substrate of learning and memory. Synaptic plasticity rules are defined by the specific complement of receptors at the synapse and the associated downstream signaling mechanisms. In young rodents, at the cerebellar synapse between granule cells (GC) and Purkinje cells (PC), bidirectional plasticity is shaped by the balance between transcellular nitric oxide (NO) driven by presynaptic -methyl-D-aspartate receptor (NMDAR) activation and postsynaptic calcium dynamics.

Bidirectional control of fear memories by cerebellar neurons projecting to the ventrolateral periaqueductal grey.

Fear conditioning is a form of associative learning that is known to involve different brain areas, notably the amygdala, the prefrontal cortex and the periaqueductal grey (PAG). Here, we describe the functional role of pathways that link the cerebellum with the fear network. We found that the cerebellar fastigial nucleus (FN) sends glutamatergic projections to vlPAG that synapse onto glutamatergic and GABAergic vlPAG neurons.

Clustering of Tau fibrils impairs the synaptic composition of α3-Na/K-ATPase and AMPA receptors.

Tau assemblies have prion-like properties: they propagate from one neuron to another and amplify by seeding the aggregation of endogenous Tau. Although key in prion-like propagation, the binding of exogenous Tau assemblies to the plasma membrane of naïve neurons is not understood. We report that fibrillar Tau forms clusters at the plasma membrane following lateral diffusion.

Functional Principles of Posterior Septal Inputs to the Medial Habenula.

The medial habenula (MHb) is an epithalamic hub contributing to expression and extinction of aversive states by bridging forebrain areas and midbrain monoaminergic centers. Although contradictory information exists regarding their synaptic properties, the physiology of the excitatory inputs to the MHb from the posterior septum remains elusive. Here, combining optogenetics-based mapping with ex vivo and in vivo physiology, we examine the synaptic properties of posterior septal afferents to the MHb and how they influence behavior.