In this issue of Neuron, Parikh et al. utilize biosensors to probe the cholinergic system in freely moving rats performing cue-detection/reward delivery tasks. They show that cue-evoked cholinergic activity in the medial prefrontal cortex is associated with cue detection and not reward delivery. We discuss the implications of their research in behavioral neuroscience.

Cholinergic signaling modulates synaptic responses and influences cognition. In this issue of Neuron, two groups (Buchanan et al. and Giessel and Sabatini) present evidence that cholinergic signaling enhances postsynaptic responses in CA1 neurons by decreasing synaptic SK channel activity. However, they come to different conclusions about the protein kinases involved in this process.

Acetylcholine is critical for learning, yet the relationship between cholinergic signaling, plasticity, and behavior remains elusive. In this issue of Neuron, Lee et al. (2016) and Jiang et al. (2016) investigate how cholinergic signaling in the amygdala and nucleus accumbens influences synaptic plasticity and learning.

How the cholinergic and dopaminergic systems of the striatum interact and how these interface with the massive neocortical input to the striatum are classic questions of cardinal interest to neurology and psychiatry. In this issue of Neuron, Ding and colleagues show that a key to these puzzles lies in the thalamic inputs to the striatum targeting its cholinergic interneurons.

A large body of evidence indicates that basal forebrain cholinergic neurons are selectively vulnerable to degeneration early in Alzheimer disease (AD). Recent studies, however, demonstrate reductions in cortical activity of the cholinergic enzyme choline acetyltransferase only in late stages of AD. To address this apparent contradiction, we compared abnormalities in magnocellular basal forebrai...

31 Acetylcholine (ACh), acting at muscarinic ACh receptors (mAChRs), modulates the 32 excitability and synaptic connectivity of hippocampal pyramidal neurons. CA1 pyramidal 33 neurons respond to transient (" phasic ") mAChR activation with biphasic responses in 34 which inhibition is followed by excitation, whereas prolonged (" tonic ") mAChR activation 35 increases CA1 neuron excitability. Bot...

ACh release into the rodent prefrontal cortex is predictive of successful performance of cue detection tasks, yet the cellular mechanisms underlying cholinergic modulation of cortical function are not fully understood. Prolonged ("tonic") muscarinic ACh receptor (mAChR) activation increases the excitability of cortical pyramidal neurons, whereas transient ("phasic") mAChR activation generates i...

OBJECTIVE Brown adipose tissue (BAT) thermogenesis is critical in maintaining body temperature. The dorsomedial hypothalamus (DMH) integrates cutaneous thermosensory signals and regulates adaptive thermogenesis. Here, we study the function and synaptic connectivity of input from DMH cholinergic neurons to sympathetic premotor neurons in the raphe pallidus (Rpa). METHODS In order to selectivel...