Artificial selection for behavioural traits can significantly affect the anatomy of brain regions related to the behaviour under selection. The homing pigeon (Columba livia) is a prime example of how ...

Neuronal polarization and axon growth are critical processes underlying neuronal differentiation and maturation. Wnt proteins have been implicated as key regulators of neuronal development; however, t...

Swine have an excellent sense of smell and highly complex olfactory brain structures, which play a crucial role in their complex social interactions. In other mammals the olfactory system is known to exhibit significant plasticity, even during adulthood. The aim of this study was to investigate postnatal plasticity in olfactory areas of juvenile swine brains by studying immature cells immunoreactive for the microtubule-associated protein doublecortin (DCX). Using immunofluorescence, we studied DCX coexpression with the cell proliferation marker Ki-67, and different neuronal markers. Our results show the existence of numerous DCX + cells throughout the olfactory pallial areas. In some of them, we found DCX+/Ki-67 + coexpressing cells, suggesting that they were proliferating. Some of these proliferating cells were grouped in tangentially-oriented migratory-like chains, forming the rostral migratory stream to anterior olfactory area and olfactory bulb. Moreover, chains of DCX + cells were found in the external capsule and white matter adjacent to the temporal horn of the ventricle. Chains of DCX + cells were observed crossing the internal layers of the piriform and entorhinal cortices. In layer II of these cortices, DCX + cells of varying maturity degrees and neuronal phenotypes (including NeuN expression) were present. This suggests the existence of multiple migratory streams along the anteroposterior axis. Most DCX + immature cells in the migratory chains and in the anterior olfactory area, piriform and entorhinal cortices expressed the transcription factor Brn2 (Pou3f2), suggesting the incorporation of new glutamatergic neurons in these areas. Together, these results highlight the interest of swine to study the role of postnatal brain plasticity and their potential for regeneration in large, gyrencephalic brains.

Teles et al. propose a model of brain evolution that explains how come fish with larger bodies have larger brains with more neurons across cohorts raised in different growth conditions, while individ....

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This study introduces SDR-seq, a droplet-based single-cell DNA–RNA sequencing platform, enabling the study of gene expression profiles linked to both noncoding and coding variants.

Sequencing analyses of human prefrontal cortex from donors ranging in age from 0.4 to 104 years show that ageing correlates with an accumulation of somatic mutations in short housekeeping genes and a reduction in the expression of these genes.

In the hippocampus, neural stem cells (NSCs) enter quiescence during postnatal development, forming a pool of stem cells that support neurogenesis in adulthood. This study shows that NSCs acquire diff...

Nature Methods - inTRACKtive: a web-based tool for interactive cell tracking visualization

Current developmental brain atlases are limited in the number of stages they represent. Here authors generate the Developmental Mouse Brain Atlas, a 4D atlas representing every postnatal day from 4 to...