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Exaggerating Harmful Drug Effects on the Brain Is Killing Black People 07/01/2020

Exaggerations of the detrimental impact of recreational drug use on the human brain have bolstered support for draconian drug policies and have been used to justify police brutality against Black people. This situation has led to disproportionately high Black incarceration rates and countless Black deaths. Here, Hart offers solutions to remedy this multi-century maltreatment of […]

COVID-19 and the chemical senses: supporting players take center stage 07/01/2020

The main neurological manifestation of COVID-19 is loss of smell or taste. The high incidence of smell loss without significant rhinorrhea or nasal congestion suggests that SARS-CoV-2 targets the chemical senses through mechanisms distinct from those used by endemic coronaviruses or other common cold-causing agents. Here we review recently developed hypotheses about how SARS-CoV-2 might […]

VTA Glutamate Neuron Activity Drives Positive Reinforcement Absent Dopamine Co-release 06/30/2020

Activation of VTA glutamate neurons leads to dopamine co-release in nucleus accumbens. Zell et al. genetically block this dopamine signal to show that VTA glutamate projections to nucleus accumbens can reinforce behaviors independently. These findings establish a parallel dopamine-independent mesolimbic pathway capable of supporting positive reinforcement.

Selective Neuronal Vulnerability in Alzheimer’s Disease: A Network-Based Analysis 06/29/2020

Neurons display different levels of vulnerability to Alzheimer’s pathology. Roussarie et al. experimentally profile and computationally model several relevant neuron types. Using a mouse-human framework, they identify genes linking Aß, aging, and tau in vulnerable neurons. Finally, they show experimentally that PTB, a regulator of tau splicing, contributes to vulnerability.