Vestibular migraine is amongst the commonest causes of vertigo, but the regions underlying the development of symptoms including enhanced self-motion sensitivity and visually induced dizziness remain unknown. Bednarczuk et al. provide evidence for an abnormal interaction between visual and vestibular cortical regions in vestibular migraine.

The role of astrocytes in the progression of Alzheimer's disease (AD) remains poorly understood. We assessed the consequences of ablating astrocytic proliferation in 9 months old double transgenic APP23/GFAP‐TK mice. Treatment of these mice with the antiviral agent ganciclovir conditionally ablates proliferating reactive astrocytes. The loss of proliferating astrocytes resulted in significantly increased levels of monomeric amyloid‐β (Aβ) in brain homogenates, associated with reduced enzymatic degradation and clearance mechanisms. In addition, our data revealed exacerbated memory deficits in mice lacking proliferating astrocytes concomitant with decreased levels of synaptic markers and higher expression of pro‐inflammatory cytokines. Our data suggest that loss of reactive astrocytes in AD aggravates amyloid pathology and memory loss, possibly via disruption of amyloid clearance and enhanced neuroinflammation.

HighlightsLine bisection predicts V1 excitability.Line bisection predicts degree of VOR modulation.Line bisection correlates with tDCS-mediated vestibular-nystagmus suppression.Degree of nystagmus suppression is a bio-marker of right hemisphere dominance.