synaptic-biology

Nature Neuroscience, Published online: 04 May 2026; doi:10.1038/s41593-026-02286-0 Liu et al. show in mice that microglia are recruited to the soma and dendritic processes of fear engram neurons during extinction learning and that they weaken fear memories by temporarily silencing and remodeling the engram neurons.

Nature Neuroscience, Published online: 04 May 2026; doi:10.1038/s41593-026-02278-0 Stereotyped dendritic arbors arise from stochastic growth and selective stabilization of dendritic branches. Two pools of guidance receptor are required. Ligand-free receptors drive stochastic growth while ligand-bound receptors stabilize branches.

Nature Neuroscience, Published online: 29 April 2026; doi:10.1038/s41593-026-02280-6 How the brain organizes the retrieval of old and new memories remains unknown. Kim et al. identify a septo−entorhinal GABAergic pathway that controls flexible switching between episodic memories during memory retrieval to enable memory updating.

The communication network in the developing brain builds when neurons partner up to form contact points called synapses, allowing signals to pass form one cell to another.

Nature Communications, Published online: 27 April 2026; doi:10.1038/s41467-026-71822-0 In this paper, the authors review how the circular RNA Cdr1as and its interacting non-coding RNAs regulate neuronal stress responses and synaptic activity, highlighting general principles of RNA-based regulatory mechanisms and their relevance for brain function, disease, and therapy.

Experience reshapes cortical circuits, yet plasticity is tightly gated—high during early critical periods and increasingly constrained with maturation. Later in life, aging and Alzheimer’s disease (AD) create a growing demand to restrain network hyperactivity. Across these contexts, excitatory drive onto parvalbumin-positive fast-spiking interneurons (PVs)—shaped by synaptic organizers such as NP…

Active Zone Maturation Controls Presynaptic Output and Release Mode and Is Regulated by Neuronal Activity Akbergenova, Yulia; Matthias, Jessica; Makeyeva, Sofya; Littleton, J Troy Synapse formation requires the accumulation of cytomatrix proteins and voltage-gated Ca2+ channels (VGCCs) at presynaptic active zones (AZs). At Drosophila melanogaster larval neuromuscular junctions, a sequential proce…

Neuron–Glial Interactions: Implications for Plasticity, Behavior, and Cognition Rangel-Gomez, Mauricio; Alberini, Cristina M; Deneen, Benjamin; Drummond, Gabrielle T; Manninen, Tiina; Sur, Mriganka; Vicentic, Aleksandra The traditional view of glial cells as mere supportive tissue has shifted, due to advances in technology and theoretical conceptualization, to include a diversity of other functio…

Nature Neuroscience, Published online: 24 April 2026; doi:10.1038/s41593-026-02312-1 Author Correction: Astrocytic Sox9 overexpression in Alzheimer’s disease mouse models promotes Aβ plaque phagocytosis and preserves cognitive function

Nature Neuroscience, Published online: 24 April 2026; doi:10.1038/s41593-026-02247-7 By studying 23 neurodevelopmental disorder genes across model systems and brain cell types, the authors uncovered shared downstream effects that converge on synaptic biology, epigenetic regulation and mitochondrial function.

Anorexia nervosa (AN) is increasingly understood as a metabo-psychiatric disorder in which metabolic biology and neural circuit function are intrinsically intertwined. Genetic studies reveal that AN is associated with heritable metabolic traits suggesting that metabolic vulnerability contributes to the disorder. The metabolic profile of AN further shapes brain responses; endocrine signals such as…

Nature, Published online: 22 April 2026; doi:10.1038/d41586-026-01338-6 Webs of star-shaped cells called astrocytes connect distant parts of the brain, allowing long-distance exchange of molecules.

Nature, Published online: 22 April 2026; doi:10.1038/s41586-026-10426-6 Communication between distant brain regions is mediated by plastic networks of gap junction-coupled astrocytes.

Nature, Published online: 22 April 2026; doi:10.1038/s41586-026-10414-w A transient grey matter microgliosis is required for remyelination, the failure of which results in a chronic neuroinflammatory state seen in neurodegenerative disorders.

Nature Communications, Published online: 20 April 2026; doi:10.1038/s41467-026-72234-w In this study, the authors find that SHANK3’s large intrinsically disordered region mediates phase separation to support postsynaptic density remodeling during long-term potentiation, providing an insight into how autism spectrum disorder-linked SHANK3 mutations disrupt synaptic plasticity.

Every thought, memory, and feeling we experience depends on trillions of tiny connection points in the brain called synapses. These are the junctions where one neuron passes signals to another, forming the vast communication network known as the connectome—the brain’s wiring diagram. Although scientists have developed powerful tools to increase or decrease neural activity, directly […]

Nature Neuroscience, Published online: 14 April 2026; doi:10.1038/s41593-026-02254-8 By assembling into ‘virion vesicles’, the H129 strain of herpes simplex virus-1 hijacks synaptic machinery for its anterograde spread, co-opting voltage-gated Ca2+ channels, Syt7 and SNAREs for presynaptic exit, then nectin-1/CME for postsynaptic entry.

Nature Neuroscience, Published online: 14 April 2026; doi:10.1038/s41593-026-02250-y This study shows that the brain’s smell center uses precise timing and inhibition to read out early odor signals, enabling reliable odor identity across concentrations while rapidly separating (decorrelating) similar smell patterns for better discrimination.

Nature Communications, Published online: 10 April 2026; doi:10.1038/s41467-026-71503-y Spatial representations in the hippocampus can rapidly form through behavioral timescale synaptic plasticity. Here authors show rapid formation of non-spatial olfactory representations in CA1, consistent with behavioral timescale synaptic plasticity, and describe modulation by medial and lateral entorhinal cort…