March 2008

• Analgesia: Picking out the pieces of GABA receptors

  Standfirst

  Targeting specific subunits of GABA_A receptors produces analgesia.

  Charlotte Harrison
  Nature Reviews Drug Discovery 7 201
  doi:10.1038/nrd2536

• Signal transduction: New tricks for old JNKs

  Standfirst

  c-Jun N-terminal kinases phosphorylate two glutamate receptor subunits, regulating receptor trafficking.

  Katherine Whalley
  Nature Reviews Neuroscience 9 164 - 165
  doi:10.1038/nrn2342

• Obesity drugs: Illuminating weight loss

  Standfirst

  A cannabinoid 1 receptor inverse agonist increases energy expenditure and decreases food intake.

  Bethan Hughes
  Nature Reviews Drug Discovery 7 202 - 203
  doi:10.1038/nrd2538

• Synaptic plasticity: Rise and shine (we are all morning people!)

  Standfirst

  Wakefulness affects synaptic efficacy.

  Monica Hoyos Flight
  Nature Reviews Neuroscience 9 166 - 167
  doi:10.1038/nrn2348

• Technology: Colour-changing worms

  Standfirst

  Researchers visualize pre-mRNA splicing in vivo with fluorescent proteins.

  Anne Blewett
  Nature Reviews Genetics 9 159
  doi:10.1038/nrg2333

• Mirror neurons: Singing in the brain

  Standfirst

  High vocal center neurons involved in song learning may be mirror neurons.

  Leonie Welberg
  Nature Reviews Neuroscience 9 163
  doi:10.1038/nrn2340

• Development: Instructions for the hippocampus

  Standfirst

  The transcription factor Lhx2 specifies cortical development.

  Monica Hoyos Flight
  Nature Reviews Neuroscience 9 164 - 165
  doi:10.1038/nrn2341

• Neurogenetics: Predicting antidepressant response

  Standfirst

  Genetic variation in a blood-brain barrier protein may explain differences in the efficacies of antidepressants.

  Monica Hoyos Flight
  Nature Reviews Neuroscience 9 162
  doi:10.1038/nrn2346