CB2 expression in mouse brain: from mapping to regulation in microglia under inflammatory conditions.

Since its detection in the brain, the cannabinoid receptor type 2 (CB2) has been considered a promising therapeutic target for various neurological and psychiatric disorders. However, precise brain mapping of its expression is still lacking. Using magnetic cell sorting, calibrated RT-qPCR and single-nucleus RNAseq, we show that CB2 is expressed at a low level in all brain regions studied, mainly by few microglial cells, and by neurons in an even lower proportion.

Neonatal brain injury unravels transcriptional and signaling changes underlying the reactivation of cortical progenitors.

Germinal activity persists throughout life within the ventricular-subventricular zone (V-SVZ) of the postnatal forebrain due to the presence of neural stem cells (NSCs). Accumulating evidence points to a recruitment for these cells following early brain injuries and suggests their amenability to manipulations. We used chronic hypoxia as a rodent model of early brain injury to investigate the reactivation of cortical progenitors at postnatal times.

Chemogenetic activation of prefrontal astroglia enhances recognition memory performance in rat.

Prefrontal cortex (PFC) inputs to the hippocampus are supposed to be critical in memory processes. Astrocytes are involved in several brain functions, such as homeostasis, neurotransmission, synaptogenesis. However, their role in PFC-mediated modulation of memory has yet to be studied.

Single-cell analysis of the postnatal dorsal V-SVZ reveals a role for Bmpr1a signaling in silencing pallial germinal activity.

The ventricular-subventricular zone (V-SVZ) is the largest neurogenic region of the postnatal forebrain, containing neural stem cells (NSCs) that emerge from both the embryonic pallium and subpallium. Despite of this dual origin, glutamatergic neurogenesis declines rapidly after birth, while GABAergic neurogenesis persists throughout life. We performed single-cell RNA sequencing of the postnatal dorsal V-SVZ for unraveling the mechanisms leading to pallial lineage germinal activity silencing.

Exploring nine simultaneously occurring transients on April 12th 1950.

Nine point sources appeared within half an hour on a region within [Formula: see text] 10 arcmin of a red-sensitive photographic plate taken in April 1950 as part of the historic Palomar Sky Survey. All nine sources are absent on both previous and later photographic images, and absent in modern surveys with CCD detectors which go several magnitudes deeper. We present deep CCD images with the 10.

Apoptosis, G1 Phase Stall, and Premature Differentiation Account for Low Chimeric Competence of Human and Rhesus Monkey Naive Pluripotent Stem Cells.

After reprogramming to naive pluripotency, human pluripotent stem cells (PSCs) still exhibit very low ability to make interspecies chimeras. Whether this is because they are inherently devoid of the attributes of chimeric competency or because naive PSCs cannot colonize embryos from distant species remains to be elucidated. Here, we have used different types of mouse, human, and rhesus monkey naive PSCs and analyzed their ability to colonize rabbit and cynomolgus monkey embryos.

Contributions of Single-Cell Approaches for Probing Heterogeneity and Dynamics of Neural Progenitors Throughout Life: Concise Review.

Development of the forebrain occurs in a stepwise manner from a pool of neural progenitors (NPs), which differs over space and time to produce distinct progenies. The sequence of events leading to the generation of the exquisite complexity of cell types that compose this tissue has been described in great detail at the population level. Recent advances in histology and transcriptomics have allowed probing spatial and temporal heterogeneity and dynamics of NPs at the single-cell level.

Correction to: Rescue of Methyl-CpG Binding Protein 2 Dysfunction-induced Defects in Newborn Neurons by Pentobarbital.

C.-H. Yang's appeared incorrectly on the original publication of this article.

Bayesian approach to SETI.

The search for technosignatures from hypothetical galactic civilizations is going through a new phase of intense activity. For the first time, a significant fraction of the vast search space is expected to be sampled in the foreseeable future, potentially bringing informative data about the abundance of detectable extraterrestrial civilizations or the lack thereof. Starting from the current state of ignorance about the galactic population of nonnatural electromagnetic signals, we formulate a Bayesian statistical model to infer the mean number of radio signals crossing Earth, assuming either nondetection or the detection of signals in future surveys of the Galaxy.

HOPX Defines Heterogeneity of Postnatal Subventricular Zone Neural Stem Cells.

The largest diversity of neural lineages generated from the subventricular zone (SVZ) occurs early after birth and is regulated in a spatiotemporal manner depending on the expression of specific transcriptional cues. Transcriptomics and fate-mapping approaches were employed to explore the relationship between regional expression of transcription factors by neural stem cells (NSCs) and the specification of distinct neural lineages. Our results support an early priming of NSCs for the genesis of defined cell types depending on their spatial location in the SVZ and identify HOPX as a marker of a subpopulation primed toward astrocytic fates.

Transcriptional Dysregulation in Postnatal Glutamatergic Progenitors Contributes to Closure of the Cortical Neurogenic Period.

Progenitors of cortical glutamatergic neurons (Glu progenitors) are usually thought to switch fate before birth to produce astrocytes. We used fate-mapping approaches to show that a large fraction of Glu progenitors persist in the postnatal forebrain after closure of the cortical neurogenesis period. Postnatal Glu progenitors do not accumulate during embryonal development but are produced by embryonal radial glial cells that persist after birth in the dorsal subventricular zone and continue to give rise to cortical neurons, although with low efficiency.

Pharmacogenomic identification of small molecules for lineage specific manipulation of subventricular zone germinal activity.

Strategies for promoting neural regeneration are hindered by the difficulty of manipulating desired neural fates in the brain without complex genetic methods. The subventricular zone (SVZ) is the largest germinal zone of the forebrain and is responsible for the lifelong generation of interneuron subtypes and oligodendrocytes. Here, we have performed a bioinformatics analysis of the transcriptome of dorsal and lateral SVZ in early postnatal mice, including neural stem cells (NSCs) and their immediate progenies, which generate distinct neural lineages.

Collimated focal ratio degradation testing for highly multiplexed fiber systems-an improvement to a standard test.

A simple method for determining the focal ratio degradation of optical fibers has been developed. The method involves splitting the light from the test fiber and recording ring patterns that have traveled over two different, and known, optical paths. This new method will be valuable for testing many fibers as will be needed for new multiobject astronomical spectrographs.

Choline Ameliorates Disease Phenotypes in Human iPSC Models of Rett Syndrome.

Rett syndrome (RTT) is a postnatal neurodevelopmental disorder that primarily affects girls. Mutations in the methyl-CpG-binding protein 2 (MECP2) gene account for approximately 95 % of all RTT cases. To model RTT in vitro, we generated induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) from fibroblasts of two RTT patients with different mutations (MECP2 (R306C) and MECP2 (1155Δ32)) in their MECP2 gene.

A Role for RE-1-Silencing Transcription Factor in Embryonic Stem Cells Cardiac Lineage Specification.

During development, lineage specification is controlled by several signaling pathways involving various transcription factors (TFs). Here, we studied the RE-1-silencing transcription factor (REST) and identified an important role of this TF in cardiac differentiation. Using mouse embryonic stem cells (ESC) to model development, we found that REST knockout cells lost the ability to differentiate into the cardiac lineage.

Rescue of Methyl-CpG Binding Protein 2 Dysfunction-induced Defects in Newborn Neurons by Pentobarbital.

Rett syndrome is a neurodevelopmental disorder that usually arises from mutations or deletions in methyl-CpG binding protein 2 (MeCP2), a transcriptional regulator that affects neuronal development and maturation without causing cell loss. Here, we show that silencing of MeCP2 decreased neurite arborization and synaptogenesis in cultured hippocampal neurons from rat fetal brains. These structural defects were associated with alterations in synaptic transmission and neural network activity.

An optogenetic approach for assessing formation of neuronal connections in a co-culture system.

Here we describe a protocol to generate a co-culture consisting of 2 different neuronal populations. Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) are reprogrammed from human fibroblasts using episomal vectors. Colonies of iPSCs can be observed 30 days after initiation of fibroblast reprogramming.

Regionally-specified second trimester fetal neural stem cells reveals differential neurogenic programming.

Neural stem/progenitor cells (NSC) have the potential for treatment of a wide range of neurological diseases such as Parkinson Disease and multiple sclerosis. Currently, NSC have been isolated only from hippocampus and subventricular zone (SVZ) of the adult brain. It is not known whether NSC can be found in all parts of the developing mid-trimester central nervous system (CNS) when the brain undergoes massive transformation and growth.

Occurrence and core-envelope structure of 1-4× Earth-size planets around Sun-like stars.

Small planets, 1-4× the size of Earth, are extremely common around Sun-like stars, and surprisingly so, as they are missing in our solar system. Recent detections have yielded enough information about this class of exoplanets to begin characterizing their occurrence rates, orbits, masses, densities, and internal structures. The Kepler mission finds the smallest planets to be most common, as 26% of Sun-like stars have small, 1-2 R⊕ planets with orbital periods under 100 d, and 11% have 1-2 R⊕ planets that receive 1-4× the incident stellar flux that warms our Earth.

Three regimes of extrasolar planet radius inferred from host star metallicities.

Approximately half of the extrasolar planets (exoplanets) with radii less than four Earth radii are in orbits with short periods. Despite their sheer abundance, the compositions of such planets are largely unknown. The available evidence suggests that they range in composition from small, high-density rocky planets to low-density planets consisting of rocky cores surrounded by thick hydrogen and helium gas envelopes.

Prevalence of Earth-size planets orbiting Sun-like stars.

Determining whether Earth-like planets are common or rare looms as a touchstone in the question of life in the universe. We searched for Earth-size planets that cross in front of their host stars by examining the brightness measurements of 42,000 stars from National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Kepler mission. We found 603 planets, including 10 that are Earth size ( ) and receive comparable levels of stellar energy to that of Earth (1 - 2 R[Symbol: see text] ).

A rocky composition for an Earth-sized exoplanet.

Planets with sizes between that of Earth (with radius R Earth symbol) and Neptune (about 4R Earth symbol) are now known to be common around Sun-like stars. Most such planets have been discovered through the transit technique, by which the planet's size can be determined from the fraction of starlight blocked by the planet as it passes in front of its star. Measuring the planet's mass--and hence its density, which is a clue to its composition--is more difficult.

Stellar spin-orbit misalignment in a multiplanet system.

Stars hosting hot Jupiters are often observed to have high obliquities, whereas stars with multiple coplanar planets have been seen to have low obliquities. This has been interpreted as evidence that hot-Jupiter formation is linked to dynamical disruption, as opposed to planet migration through a protoplanetary disk. We used asteroseismology to measure a large obliquity for Kepler-56, a red giant star hosting two transiting coplanar planets.