The Journal Club

Mohar, B., Michel, G., Wang, YZ. et al. DELTA: a method for brain-wide measurement of synaptic protein turnover reveals localized plasticity during learning. Nat Neurosci (2025)

This study identifies elevated CD38 expression on CD4+ T cells as a pre-symptomatic immunometabolic marker of Alzheimer’s disease and demonstrates that targeting CD38 in a mouse model restores immune and cognitive function. The findings suggest CD38 as both a potential early diagnostic biomarker and a therapeutic target for modifying Alzheimer’s disease progression.

Peralta Ramos JM, Castellani G, Kviatcovsky D, Croese T, Tsitsou-Kampeli A, Burgaletto C, Abellanas MA, Cahalon L, Phoebeluc Colaiuta S, Salame TM, Kuperman Y, Savidor A, Itkin M, Malitsky S, Ovadia S, Ferrera S, Kalfon L, Kadmani S, Samra N, Paz R, Rokach L, Furlan R, Aharon-Peretz J, Falik-Zaccai TC, Schwartz M. Targeting CD38 immunometabolic checkpoint improves metabolic fitness and cognition in a mouse model of Alzheimer's disease. Nat Commun. 2025 Apr 20;

This study identifies excessive Pleiotrophin (PTN) released by dysregulated quiescent neural stem cells (qNSCs) as a key driver of manic-like behaviors in Shank3-overexpressing mice. Inhibiting PTN in qNSCs corrected abnormal neurogenesis and alleviated social deficits, suggesting PTN as a potential therapeutic target for mania.

Kim H, Cho B, Kim HK, Kang S, An S, Kwon D, Kim HY, Kim J. PTN activity in quiescent neural stem cells mediates Shank3 overexpression-induced manic behavior. Nat Commun. 2025 Mar 11

This study found that daily physical behavior compositions—particularly time spent in moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA), light activity, and standing—were positively associated with improved same-day affective states (valence, arousal, and calmness), but not with working memory performance. The results highlight that even small shifts toward more active behaviors in a 24-hour period can enhance mood, supporting the potential of behavior-based interventions for mental well-being.Le F, Mattern V, Johansson PJ, Hettiarachchi P, Ebner-Priemer U, Wiley JF, Dumuid D, Giurgiu M. Associations between daily composition of 24 h physical behavior with affective states and working memory. Sci Rep. 2025 Apr 25

Methylphenidate (MP) is primarily prescribed for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, but it is also misused as a cognitive

enhancer by individuals seeking to improve cognitive performance. Using advanced brain imaging and behavioral tasks, this

study investigates how MP affects dopamine signaling, brain activity, and cognitive performance. Our results demonstrate

that MP promoted a frontoparietal-dominant brain state which linked to improved task performance and D1 receptor

availability. This research also introduces a multilevel neuroimaging approach to studying drug effects, offering a foundation

for tailoring interventions by predicting individual variations in responses to medicine.

Yan W, Demiral ŞB, Tomasi D, Zhang R, Manza P, Wang GJ, Volkow ND. Methylphenidate promotes a frontoparietal-dominant brain state improving cognitive performance: a randomized trial. J Neurosci. 2025 Mar 18

We demonstrate that remembering a visual stimulus evokes responses in visual cortex that differ in spatial extent compared to seeing the same stimulus. Perception evokes tuned responses in early visual areas that increase in size up the visual hierarchy. Prior work showed that feedback inputs associated with long-term memory originate from later visual areas with larger receptive fields resulting in uniformly wide spatial tuning even in primary visual cortex. We replicate these results and show that the same pattern holds when maintaining in working memory a recently viewed stimulus. That trial-to-trial difficulty is reflected in the accuracy and precision of these representations suggests that visual cortex is flexibly used for processing visuospatial information, regardless of where that information originates.

Woodry R, Curtis CE, Winawer J. Feedback scales the spatial tuning of cortical responses during both visual working memory and long-term memory. bioRxiv [Preprint]. 2024 Dec 2

The current work is the first to investigate changes in whole-brain manifold architecture that underlie visual statistical learning (SL). We found that areas of the visual cortex and dorsal attention network showed significant connectivity changes during learning, reflecting their decreased, and increased covariance with other networks, respectively. Notably, when SL was later disrupted, regions within the medial temporal lobe, which had shown no evidence of initial learning, now began to increase connectivity with higher-order cortex. Together, these findings not only reveal the widespread neural interactions that underlie visual SL but also extend prior work, suggesting separable cortical and medial temporal lobe contributions for the encoding versus violation of learned associations.

Rowchan K, Gale DJ, Nick Q, Gallivan JP, Wammes JD. Visual Statistical Learning Alters Low-Dimensional Cortical Architecture. J Neurosci. 2025 Apr 23

To understand the brain’s network, we need to decipher its structural features linked to cognitive functions. Recent studies suggest the importance of subnetworks with bidirectional interactions for conscious perception, but their exact relationship remains unclear due to the brain’s complexity. Here, we propose a framework for extracting subnetworks with strong bidirectional interactions, or network “cores.” We applied it to fMRI data and explored the association of the cores with conscious perception and cognitive functions. The central cores predominantly included cortical regions rather than subcortical ones, and tended to comprise previously reported regions wherein electrical stimulation altered perception, suggesting the potential importance of bidirectional cores for conscious perception. Additionally, further analysis revealed the relationship of the cores to unimodal sensorimotor functions.

Taguchi T, Kitazono J, Sasai S, Oizumi M. Association of Bidirectional Network Cores in the Brain with Perceptual Awareness and Cognition. J Neurosci. 2025 Apr 23

This study shows that although both typical and poor readers can learn letter–speech-sound associations, poor readers adapt more slowly—exhibiting reduced drift rates, wider decision boundaries, and longer nondecision times in a reinforcement-learning drift-diffusion model. Neuroimaging revealed that poor readers also have altered effective connectivity across visual, auditory, and associative regions, with notably diminished striatal modulation of visual-to-audiovisual integration pathways, suggesting impaired information transfer critical for fluent reading.

Frei N, Willinger D, Haller P, Fraga-González G, Pamplona GSP, Haugg A, Lutz CG, Coraj S, Hefti E, Brem S. Toward a Mechanistic Understanding of Reading Difficulties: Deviant Audiovisual Learning Dynamics and Network Connectivity in Children with Poor Reading Skills. J Neurosci. 2025 Apr 23

This study shows that relaxation of the jaw area in chronic tinnitus patients reduces tinnitus perception, associated with increased alpha-band connectivity from the somatosensory to auditory cortex and decreased auditory gamma power. These findings suggest that sensorimotor-induced inhibition of the auditory cortex may be a general mechanism for modulating phantom sound perception.

Sabados A, Kim C, Rampp S, Bergherr E, Buchfelder M, Schnell O, Müller-Voggel N. Reducing Tinnitus via Inhibitory Influence of the Sensorimotor System on Auditory Cortical Activity. J Neurosci. 2025 Apr 23;