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Zhang X, Cao Q, Gao K, Chen C, Cheng S, Li A, Zhou Y, Liu R, Hao J, Kropff E, Miao C. Multiplexed representation of others in the hippocampal CA1 subfield of female mice. Nat Commun 2024; 15:3702. [PMID: 38697969 PMCID: PMC11065873 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-47453-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/24/2023] [Accepted: 04/02/2024] [Indexed: 05/05/2024] Open
Abstract
Hippocampal place cells represent the position of a rodent within an environment. In addition, recent experiments show that the CA1 subfield of a passive observer also represents the position of a conspecific performing a spatial task. However, whether this representation is allocentric, egocentric or mixed is less clear. In this study we investigated the representation of others during free behavior and in a task where female mice learned to follow a conspecific for a reward. We found that most cells represent the position of others relative to self-position (social-vector cells) rather than to the environment, with a prevalence of purely egocentric coding modulated by context and mouse identity. Learning of a pursuit task improved the tuning of social-vector cells, but their number remained invariant. Collectively, our results suggest that the hippocampus flexibly codes the position of others in multiple coordinate systems, albeit favoring the self as a reference point.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xiang Zhang
- State key laboratory of Membrane biology, School of Life Sciences, Peking university, Beijing, 100871, China
- PKU-IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Peking university, Beijing, 100871, China
| | - Qichen Cao
- State key laboratory of Membrane biology, School of Life Sciences, Peking university, Beijing, 100871, China
- PKU-IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Peking university, Beijing, 100871, China
- Peking-Tsinghua Center for Life Sciences, Beijing, 100871, China
| | - Kai Gao
- State key laboratory of Membrane biology, School of Life Sciences, Peking university, Beijing, 100871, China
- PKU-IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Peking university, Beijing, 100871, China
- Peking-Tsinghua Center for Life Sciences, Beijing, 100871, China
| | - Cong Chen
- State key laboratory of Membrane biology, School of Life Sciences, Peking university, Beijing, 100871, China
- PKU-IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Peking university, Beijing, 100871, China
| | - Sihui Cheng
- State key laboratory of Membrane biology, School of Life Sciences, Peking university, Beijing, 100871, China
- PKU-IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Peking university, Beijing, 100871, China
- Peking-Tsinghua Center for Life Sciences, Beijing, 100871, China
| | - Ang Li
- State key laboratory of Membrane biology, School of Life Sciences, Peking university, Beijing, 100871, China
- PKU-IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Peking university, Beijing, 100871, China
- Peking-Tsinghua Center for Life Sciences, Beijing, 100871, China
| | - Yuqian Zhou
- State key laboratory of Membrane biology, School of Life Sciences, Peking university, Beijing, 100871, China
- PKU-IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Peking university, Beijing, 100871, China
| | - Ruojin Liu
- State key laboratory of Membrane biology, School of Life Sciences, Peking university, Beijing, 100871, China
- PKU-IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Peking university, Beijing, 100871, China
- Peking-Tsinghua Center for Life Sciences, Beijing, 100871, China
| | - Jun Hao
- State key laboratory of Membrane biology, School of Life Sciences, Peking university, Beijing, 100871, China
- PKU-IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Peking university, Beijing, 100871, China
- Peking-Tsinghua Center for Life Sciences, Beijing, 100871, China
| | - Emilio Kropff
- Leloir Institute/IIBBA-CONICET, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
| | - Chenglin Miao
- State key laboratory of Membrane biology, School of Life Sciences, Peking university, Beijing, 100871, China.
- PKU-IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Peking university, Beijing, 100871, China.
- Peking-Tsinghua Center for Life Sciences, Beijing, 100871, China.
- Chinese Institute for Brain Research (CIBR), Beijing, China.
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刘 新, 崔 书, 杨 晨, 王 东, 刘 凯, 秦 月, 温 盛. [Screening of place cell and analysis of its influencing factors for pigeons]. Sheng Wu Yi Xue Gong Cheng Xue Za Zhi 2024; 41:335-341. [PMID: 38686415 PMCID: PMC11058492 DOI: 10.7507/1001-5515.202307023] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/12/2023] [Revised: 02/14/2024] [Indexed: 05/02/2024]
Abstract
Place cell with location tuning characteristics play an important role in brain spatial cognition and navigation, but there is relatively little research on place cell screening and its influencing factors. Taking pigeons as model animals, the screening process of pigeon place cell was given by using the spike signal in pigeon hippocampus under free activity. The effects of grid number and filter kernel size on the place field of place cells during the screening process were analyzed. The results from the real and simulation data showed that the proposed place cell screening method presented in this study could effectively screen out place cell, and the research found that the size of place field was basically inversely proportional to the number of grids divided, and was basically proportional to the size of Gaussian filter kernel in the overall trend. This result will not only help to determine the appropriate parameters in the place cell screening process, but also promote the research on the neural mechanism of spatial cognition and navigation of birds such as pigeons.
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Affiliation(s)
- 新玉 刘
- 黄淮学院 智能制造学院(河南驻马店 463000)School of Intelligent Manufacturing, Huanghuai University, Zhumadian, Henan 463000, P. R. China
| | - 书华 崔
- 黄淮学院 智能制造学院(河南驻马店 463000)School of Intelligent Manufacturing, Huanghuai University, Zhumadian, Henan 463000, P. R. China
| | - 晨光 杨
- 黄淮学院 智能制造学院(河南驻马店 463000)School of Intelligent Manufacturing, Huanghuai University, Zhumadian, Henan 463000, P. R. China
- 开封技师学院 电气工程系(河南开封 475004)Department of Electrical Engineering, Kaifeng Technician College, Kaifeng, Henan 475004, P. R. China
| | - 东云 王
- 黄淮学院 智能制造学院(河南驻马店 463000)School of Intelligent Manufacturing, Huanghuai University, Zhumadian, Henan 463000, P. R. China
| | - 凯歌 刘
- 黄淮学院 智能制造学院(河南驻马店 463000)School of Intelligent Manufacturing, Huanghuai University, Zhumadian, Henan 463000, P. R. China
- 开封技师学院 电气工程系(河南开封 475004)Department of Electrical Engineering, Kaifeng Technician College, Kaifeng, Henan 475004, P. R. China
| | - 月 秦
- 黄淮学院 智能制造学院(河南驻马店 463000)School of Intelligent Manufacturing, Huanghuai University, Zhumadian, Henan 463000, P. R. China
- 开封技师学院 电气工程系(河南开封 475004)Department of Electrical Engineering, Kaifeng Technician College, Kaifeng, Henan 475004, P. R. China
| | - 盛军 温
- 黄淮学院 智能制造学院(河南驻马店 463000)School of Intelligent Manufacturing, Huanghuai University, Zhumadian, Henan 463000, P. R. China
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Yagi S, Igata H, Ikegaya Y, Sasaki T. Awake hippocampal synchronous events are incorporated into offline neuronal reactivation. Cell Rep 2023; 42:112871. [PMID: 37494183 DOI: 10.1016/j.celrep.2023.112871] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/21/2023] [Revised: 05/30/2023] [Accepted: 07/11/2023] [Indexed: 07/28/2023] Open
Abstract
Learning novel experiences reorganizes hippocampal neuronal circuits, represented as coordinated reactivation patterns in post-experience offline states for memory consolidation. This study examines how awake synchronous events during a novel run are related to post-run reactivation patterns. The disruption of awake sharp-wave ripples inhibited experience-induced increases in the contributions of neurons to post-experience synchronous events. Hippocampal place cells that participate more in awake synchronous events are more strongly reactivated during post-experience synchronous events. Awake synchronous neuronal patterns, in cooperation with place-selective firing patterns, determine cell ensembles that undergo pronounced increases and decreases in their correlated spikes. Taken together, awake synchronous events are fundamental for identifying hippocampal neuronal ensembles to be incorporated into synchronous reactivation during subsequent offline states, thereby facilitating memory consolidation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Saichiro Yagi
- Laboratory of Chemical Pharmacology, Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo 113-0033, Japan
| | - Hideyoshi Igata
- Laboratory of Chemical Pharmacology, Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo 113-0033, Japan
| | - Yuji Ikegaya
- Laboratory of Chemical Pharmacology, Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo 113-0033, Japan; Institute for AI and Beyond, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo 113-0033, Japan; Center for Information and Neural Networks, National Institute of Information and Communications Technology, Suita City, Osaka 565-0871, Japan
| | - Takuya Sasaki
- Laboratory of Chemical Pharmacology, Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo 113-0033, Japan; Department of Pharmacology, Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Tohoku University, 6-3 Aramaki-Aoba, Aoba-Ku, Sendai 980-8578, Japan.
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Abstract
In the hippocampus, spatial maps are formed by place cells while contextual memories are thought to be encoded as engrams1-6. Engrams are typically identified by expression of the immediate early gene Fos, but little is known about the neural activity patterns that drive, and are shaped by, Fos expression in behaving animals7-10. Thus, it is unclear whether Fos-expressing hippocampal neurons also encode spatial maps and whether Fos expression correlates with and affects specific features of the place code11. Here we measured the activity of CA1 neurons with calcium imaging while monitoring Fos induction in mice performing a hippocampus-dependent spatial learning task in virtual reality. We find that neurons with high Fos induction form ensembles of cells with highly correlated activity, exhibit reliable place fields that evenly tile the environment and have more stable tuning across days than nearby non-Fos-induced cells. Comparing neighbouring cells with and without Fos function using a sparse genetic loss-of-function approach, we find that neurons with disrupted Fos function have less reliable activity, decreased spatial selectivity and lower across-day stability. Our results demonstrate that Fos-induced cells contribute to hippocampal place codes by encoding accurate, stable and spatially uniform maps and that Fos itself has a causal role in shaping these place codes. Fos ensembles may therefore link two key aspects of hippocampal function: engrams for contextual memories and place codes that underlie cognitive maps.
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Affiliation(s)
- Noah L Pettit
- Department of Neurobiology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Ee-Lynn Yap
- Department of Neurobiology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
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Abstract
The hippocampal cognitive map supports navigation towards, or away from, salient locations in familiar environments1. Although much is known about how the hippocampus encodes location in world-centred coordinates, how it supports flexible navigation is less well understood. We recorded CA1 place cells while rats navigated to a goal on the honeycomb maze2. The maze tests navigation via direct and indirect paths to the goal and allows the directionality of place cells to be assessed at each choice point. Place fields showed strong directional polarization characterized by vector fields that converged to sinks distributed throughout the environment. The distribution of these 'convergence sinks' (ConSinks) was centred near the goal location and the population vector field converged on the goal, providing a strong navigational signal. Changing the goal location led to movement of ConSinks and vector fields towards the new goal. The honeycomb maze allows independent assessment of spatial representation and spatial action in place cell activity and shows how the latter relates to the former. The results suggest that the hippocampus creates a vector-based model to support flexible navigation, allowing animals to select optimal paths to destinations from any location in the environment.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - John O'Keefe
- Sainsbury Wellcome Centre, London, UK.
- Cell and Developmental Biology Department, University College London, London, UK.
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O’Hare JK, Gonzalez KC, Herrlinger SA, Hirabayashi Y, Hewitt VL, Blockus H, Szoboszlay M, Rolotti SV, Geiller TC, Negrean A, Chelur V, Polleux F, Losonczy A. Compartment-specific tuning of dendritic feature selectivity by intracellular Ca 2+ release. Science 2022; 375:eabm1670. [PMID: 35298275 PMCID: PMC9667905 DOI: 10.1126/science.abm1670] [Citation(s) in RCA: 26] [Impact Index Per Article: 13.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/12/2022]
Abstract
Dendritic calcium signaling is central to neural plasticity mechanisms that allow animals to adapt to the environment. Intracellular calcium release (ICR) from the endoplasmic reticulum has long been thought to shape these mechanisms. However, ICR has not been investigated in mammalian neurons in vivo. We combined electroporation of single CA1 pyramidal neurons, simultaneous imaging of dendritic and somatic activity during spatial navigation, optogenetic place field induction, and acute genetic augmentation of ICR cytosolic impact to reveal that ICR supports the establishment of dendritic feature selectivity and shapes integrative properties determining output-level receptive fields. This role for ICR was more prominent in apical than in basal dendrites. Thus, ICR cooperates with circuit-level architecture in vivo to promote the emergence of behaviorally relevant plasticity in a compartment-specific manner.
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Affiliation(s)
- Justin K. O’Hare
- Department of Neuroscience, Columbia University; New York, NY, 10027, United States
- Mortimer B. Zuckerman Mind Brain Behavior Institute, Columbia University; New York, NY, 10027, United States
| | - Kevin C. Gonzalez
- Department of Neuroscience, Columbia University; New York, NY, 10027, United States
- Mortimer B. Zuckerman Mind Brain Behavior Institute, Columbia University; New York, NY, 10027, United States
| | - Stephanie A. Herrlinger
- Department of Neuroscience, Columbia University; New York, NY, 10027, United States
- Mortimer B. Zuckerman Mind Brain Behavior Institute, Columbia University; New York, NY, 10027, United States
| | - Yusuke Hirabayashi
- Department of Chemistry and Biotechnology, School of Engineering, The University of Tokyo; Tokyo, Japan
| | - Victoria L. Hewitt
- Department of Neuroscience, Columbia University; New York, NY, 10027, United States
- Mortimer B. Zuckerman Mind Brain Behavior Institute, Columbia University; New York, NY, 10027, United States
| | - Heike Blockus
- Department of Neuroscience, Columbia University; New York, NY, 10027, United States
- Mortimer B. Zuckerman Mind Brain Behavior Institute, Columbia University; New York, NY, 10027, United States
| | - Miklos Szoboszlay
- Department of Neuroscience, Columbia University; New York, NY, 10027, United States
- Mortimer B. Zuckerman Mind Brain Behavior Institute, Columbia University; New York, NY, 10027, United States
| | - Sebi V. Rolotti
- Department of Neuroscience, Columbia University; New York, NY, 10027, United States
- Mortimer B. Zuckerman Mind Brain Behavior Institute, Columbia University; New York, NY, 10027, United States
| | - Tristan C. Geiller
- Department of Neuroscience, Columbia University; New York, NY, 10027, United States
- Mortimer B. Zuckerman Mind Brain Behavior Institute, Columbia University; New York, NY, 10027, United States
| | - Adrian Negrean
- Department of Neuroscience, Columbia University; New York, NY, 10027, United States
- Mortimer B. Zuckerman Mind Brain Behavior Institute, Columbia University; New York, NY, 10027, United States
| | - Vikas Chelur
- Department of Neuroscience, Columbia University; New York, NY, 10027, United States
| | - Franck Polleux
- Department of Neuroscience, Columbia University; New York, NY, 10027, United States
- Mortimer B. Zuckerman Mind Brain Behavior Institute, Columbia University; New York, NY, 10027, United States
- Kavli Institute for Brain Science, Columbia University; New York, NY, 10027, United States
| | - Attila Losonczy
- Department of Neuroscience, Columbia University; New York, NY, 10027, United States
- Mortimer B. Zuckerman Mind Brain Behavior Institute, Columbia University; New York, NY, 10027, United States
- Kavli Institute for Brain Science, Columbia University; New York, NY, 10027, United States
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Sotskov VP, Pospelov NA, Plusnin VV, Anokhin KV. Calcium Imaging Reveals Fast Tuning Dynamics of Hippocampal Place Cells and CA1 Population Activity during Free Exploration Task in Mice. Int J Mol Sci 2022; 23:ijms23020638. [PMID: 35054826 PMCID: PMC8775446 DOI: 10.3390/ijms23020638] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/01/2021] [Revised: 01/01/2022] [Accepted: 01/04/2022] [Indexed: 02/06/2023] Open
Abstract
Hippocampal place cells are a well-known object in neuroscience, but their place field formation in the first moments of navigating in a novel environment remains an ill-defined process. To address these dynamics, we performed in vivo imaging of neuronal activity in the CA1 field of the mouse hippocampus using genetically encoded green calcium indicators, including the novel NCaMP7 and FGCaMP7, designed specifically for in vivo calcium imaging. Mice were injected with a viral vector encoding calcium sensor, head-mounted with an NVista HD miniscope, and allowed to explore a completely novel environment (circular track surrounded by visual cues) without any reinforcement stimuli, in order to avoid potential interference from reward-related behavior. First, we calculated the average time required for each CA1 cell to acquire its place field. We found that 25% of CA1 place fields were formed at the first arrival in the corresponding place, while the average tuning latency for all place fields in a novel environment equaled 247 s. After 24 h, when the environment was familiar to the animals, place fields formed faster, independent of retention of cognitive maps during this session. No cumulation of selectivity score was observed between these two sessions. Using dimensionality reduction, we demonstrated that the population activity of rapidly tuned CA1 place cells allowed the reconstruction of the geometry of the navigated circular maze; the distribution of reconstruction error between the mice was consistent with the distribution of the average place field selectivity score in them. Our data thus show that neuronal activity recorded with genetically encoded calcium sensors revealed fast behavior-dependent plasticity in the mouse hippocampus, resulting in the rapid formation of place fields and population activity that allowed the reconstruction of the geometry of the navigated maze.
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Affiliation(s)
- Vladimir P. Sotskov
- Institute for Advanced Brain Studies, Lomonosov Moscow State University, 119991 Moscow, Russia;
- Correspondence: (V.P.S.); (K.V.A.)
| | - Nikita A. Pospelov
- Institute for Advanced Brain Studies, Lomonosov Moscow State University, 119991 Moscow, Russia;
| | - Viktor V. Plusnin
- National Research Center “Kurchatov Institute”, 123098 Moscow, Russia;
- Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, 141700 Dolgoprudny, Russia
| | - Konstantin V. Anokhin
- Institute for Advanced Brain Studies, Lomonosov Moscow State University, 119991 Moscow, Russia;
- P.K. Anokhin Institute of Normal Physiology RAS, 125315 Moscow, Russia
- Correspondence: (V.P.S.); (K.V.A.)
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Abstract
Navigation through space involves learning and representing relationships between past, current, and future locations. In mammals, this might rely on the hippocampal theta phase code, where in each cycle of the theta oscillation, spatial representations provided by neuronal sequences start behind the animal's true location and then sweep forward. However, the exact relationship between theta phase, represented position and true location remains unclear and even paradoxical. Here, we formalize previous notions of 'spatial' or 'temporal' theta sweeps that have appeared in the literature. We analyze single-cell and population variables in unit recordings from rat CA1 place cells and compare them to model simulations based on each of these schemes. We show that neither spatial nor temporal sweeps quantitatively accounts for how all relevant variables change with running speed. To reconcile these schemes with our observations, we introduce 'behavior-dependent' sweeps, in which theta sweep length and place field properties, such as size and phase precession, vary across the environment depending on the running speed characteristic of each location. These behavior-dependent spatial maps provide a structured heterogeneity that is essential for understanding the hippocampal code.
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Affiliation(s)
- Eloy Parra-Barrero
- Institute for Neural Computation, Ruhr University BochumBochumGermany
- International Graduate School of Neuroscience, Ruhr University BochumBochumGermany
| | - Kamran Diba
- Department of Anesthesiology, University of Michigan, Michigan MedicineAnn ArborUnited States
| | - Sen Cheng
- Institute for Neural Computation, Ruhr University BochumBochumGermany
- International Graduate School of Neuroscience, Ruhr University BochumBochumGermany
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Kong MS, Kim EJ, Park S, Zweifel LS, Huh Y, Cho J, Kim JJ. 'Fearful-place' coding in the amygdala-hippocampal network. eLife 2021; 10:e72040. [PMID: 34533133 PMCID: PMC8500711 DOI: 10.7554/elife.72040] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/08/2021] [Accepted: 09/17/2021] [Indexed: 12/03/2022] Open
Abstract
Animals seeking survival needs must be able to assess different locations of threats in their habitat. However, the neural integration of spatial and risk information essential for guiding goal-directed behavior remains poorly understood. Thus, we investigated simultaneous activities of fear-responsive basal amygdala (BA) and place-responsive dorsal hippocampus (dHPC) neurons as rats left the safe nest to search for food in an exposed space and encountered a simulated 'predator.' In this realistic situation, BA cells increased their firing rates and dHPC place cells decreased their spatial stability near the threat. Importantly, only those dHPC cells synchronized with the predator-responsive BA cells remapped significantly as a function of escalating risk location. Moreover, optogenetic stimulation of BA neurons was sufficient to cause spatial avoidance behavior and disrupt place fields. These results suggest a dynamic interaction of BA's fear signalling cells and dHPC's spatial coding cells as animals traverse safe-danger areas of their environment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mi-Seon Kong
- Department of Psychology, University of WashingtonSeattleUnited States
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of WashingtonSeattleUnited States
| | - Eun Joo Kim
- Department of Psychology, University of WashingtonSeattleUnited States
| | - Sanggeon Park
- Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Scranton College, Ewha Womans UniversitySeoulRepublic of Korea
- Institute for Bio-Medical Convergence, International St. Mary’s Hospital, Catholic Kwandong UniversityIncheonRepublic of Korea
| | - Larry S Zweifel
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of WashingtonSeattleUnited States
- Department of Pharmacology, University of WashingtonSeattleUnited States
| | - Yeowool Huh
- Institute for Bio-Medical Convergence, International St. Mary’s Hospital, Catholic Kwandong UniversityIncheonRepublic of Korea
- Department of Medical Science, College of Medicine, Catholic Kwandong UniversityGangneungRepublic of Korea
| | - Jeiwon Cho
- Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Scranton College, Ewha Womans UniversitySeoulRepublic of Korea
| | - Jeansok J Kim
- Department of Psychology, University of WashingtonSeattleUnited States
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Uemura M, Blankvoort S, Tok SSL, Yuan L, Cobar LF, Lit KK, Tashiro A. A neurogenic microenvironment defined by excitatory-inhibitory neuronal circuits in adult dentate gyrus. Cell Rep 2021; 36:109324. [PMID: 34233196 DOI: 10.1016/j.celrep.2021.109324] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/02/2016] [Revised: 05/23/2021] [Accepted: 06/08/2021] [Indexed: 10/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Adult neurogenesis in the dentate gyrus plays a role in adaptive brain functions such as memory formation. Adding new neurons to a specific locus of a neural circuit with functional needs is an efficient way to achieve such an adaptive function. However, it is unknown whether neurogenesis is linked to local functional demands potentially specified by the activity of neuronal circuits. By examining the distribution of neurogenesis and different types of neuronal activity in the dentate gyrus of freely moving adult rats, we find that neurogenesis is positionally associated with active excitatory neurons, some of which show place-cell activity, but is positionally dissociated from a type of interneuron with high-burst tendency. Our finding suggests that the behaviorally relevant activity of excitatory-inhibitory neuronal circuits can define a microenvironment stimulating/inhibiting neurogenesis. Such local regulation of neurogenesis may contribute to strategic recruitment of new neurons to modify functionally relevant neural circuits.
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Affiliation(s)
- Masato Uemura
- Kavli Institute for Systems Neuroscience, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, 7030 Trondheim, Norway
| | - Stefan Blankvoort
- Kavli Institute for Systems Neuroscience, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, 7030 Trondheim, Norway
| | - Sean Shui Liang Tok
- School of Biological Sciences, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore 308232, Singapore
| | - Li Yuan
- School of Biological Sciences, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore 308232, Singapore
| | - Luis Fernando Cobar
- School of Biological Sciences, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore 308232, Singapore
| | - Kwok Keung Lit
- School of Biological Sciences, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore 308232, Singapore
| | - Ayumu Tashiro
- Kavli Institute for Systems Neuroscience, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, 7030 Trondheim, Norway; School of Biological Sciences, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore 308232, Singapore.
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Grijseels DM, Shaw K, Barry C, Hall CN. Choice of method of place cell classification determines the population of cells identified. PLoS Comput Biol 2021; 17:e1008835. [PMID: 34237050 PMCID: PMC8291744 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1008835] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/18/2021] [Revised: 07/20/2021] [Accepted: 06/15/2021] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Place cells, spatially responsive hippocampal cells, provide the neural substrate supporting navigation and spatial memory. Historically most studies of these neurons have used electrophysiological recordings from implanted electrodes but optical methods, measuring intracellular calcium, are becoming increasingly common. Several methods have been proposed as a means to identify place cells based on their calcium activity but there is no common standard and it is unclear how reliable different approaches are. Here we tested four methods that have previously been applied to two-photon hippocampal imaging or electrophysiological data, using both model datasets and real imaging data. These methods use different parameters to identify place cells, including the peak activity in the place field, compared to other locations (the Peak method); the stability of cells' activity over repeated traversals of an environment (Stability method); a combination of these parameters with the size of the place field (Combination method); and the spatial information held by the cells (Information method). The methods performed differently from each other on both model and real data. In real datasets, vastly different numbers of place cells were identified using the four methods, with little overlap between the populations identified as place cells. Therefore, choice of place cell detection method dramatically affects the number and properties of identified cells. Ultimately, we recommend the Peak method be used in future studies to identify place cell populations, as this method is robust to moderate variations in place field within a session, and makes no inherent assumptions about the spatial information in place fields, unless there is an explicit theoretical reason for detecting cells with more narrowly defined properties.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dori M. Grijseels
- School of Psychology and Sussex Neuroscience, University of Sussex, Brighton, United Kingdom
| | - Kira Shaw
- School of Psychology and Sussex Neuroscience, University of Sussex, Brighton, United Kingdom
| | - Caswell Barry
- Research Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, University College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Catherine N. Hall
- School of Psychology and Sussex Neuroscience, University of Sussex, Brighton, United Kingdom
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Abstract
There are currently a number of theories of rodent hippocampal function. They fall into two major groups that differ in the role they impute to space in hippocampal information processing. On one hand, the cognitive map theory sees space as crucial and central, with other types of nonspatial information embedded in a primary spatial framework. On the other hand, most other theories see the function of the hippocampal formation as broader, treating all types of information as equivalent and concentrating on the processes carried out irrespective of the specific material being represented, stored, and manipulated. One crucial difference, therefore, is the extent to which theories see hippocampal pyramidal cells as representing nonspatial information independently of a spatial framework. Studies have reported the existence of single hippocampal unit responses to nonspatial stimuli, both to simple sensory inputs as well as to more complex stimuli such as objects, conspecifics, rewards, and time, and these findings been interpreted as evidence in favor of a broader hippocampal function. Alternatively, these nonspatial responses might actually be feature-in-place signals where the spatial nature of the response has been masked by the fact that the objects or features were only presented in one location or one spatial context. In this article, we argue that when tested in multiple locations, the hippocampal response to nonspatial stimuli is almost invariably dependent on the animal's location. Looked at collectively, the data provide strong support for the cognitive map theory.
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Affiliation(s)
- John O'Keefe
- Sainsbury Wellcome Centre and Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, University College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Julija Krupic
- Department of Physiology, Development and Neuroscience, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom
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13
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Zheng C, Hwaun E, Loza CA, Colgin LL. Hippocampal place cell sequences differ during correct and error trials in a spatial memory task. Nat Commun 2021; 12:3373. [PMID: 34099727 PMCID: PMC8185092 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-23765-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/26/2021] [Accepted: 05/17/2021] [Indexed: 12/11/2022] Open
Abstract
Theta rhythms temporally coordinate sequences of hippocampal place cell ensembles during active behaviors, while sharp wave-ripples coordinate place cell sequences during rest. We investigated whether such coordination of hippocampal place cell sequences is disrupted during error trials in a delayed match-to-place task. As a reward location was learned across trials, place cell sequences developed that represented temporally compressed paths to the reward location during the approach to the reward location. Less compressed paths were represented on error trials as an incorrect stop location was approached. During rest periods of correct but not error trials, place cell sequences developed a bias to replay representations of paths ending at the correct reward location. These results support the hypothesis that coordination of place cell sequences by theta rhythms and sharp wave-ripples develops as a reward location is learned and may be important for the successful performance of a spatial memory task.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chenguang Zheng
- Center for Learning and Memory, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA.
- Department of Neuroscience, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA.
- School of Precision Instruments and Optoelectronics Engineering, Tianjin University, Tianjin, China.
| | - Ernie Hwaun
- Center for Learning and Memory, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA
- Institute for Neuroscience, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA
| | - Carlos A Loza
- Center for Learning and Memory, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA
- Department of Neuroscience, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA
| | - Laura Lee Colgin
- Center for Learning and Memory, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA.
- Department of Neuroscience, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA.
- Institute for Neuroscience, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA.
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14
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Ness N, Schultz SR. A computational grid-to-place-cell transformation model indicates a synaptic driver of place cell impairment in early-stage Alzheimer's Disease. PLoS Comput Biol 2021; 17:e1009115. [PMID: 34133417 PMCID: PMC8238223 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1009115] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/09/2020] [Revised: 06/28/2021] [Accepted: 05/26/2021] [Indexed: 12/23/2022] Open
Abstract
Alzheimer's Disease (AD) is characterized by progressive neurodegeneration and cognitive impairment. Synaptic dysfunction is an established early symptom, which correlates strongly with cognitive decline, and is hypothesised to mediate the diverse neuronal network abnormalities observed in AD. However, how synaptic dysfunction contributes to network pathology and cognitive impairment in AD remains elusive. Here, we present a grid-cell-to-place-cell transformation model of long-term CA1 place cell dynamics to interrogate the effect of synaptic loss on network function and environmental representation. Synapse loss modelled after experimental observations in the APP/PS1 mouse model was found to induce firing rate alterations and place cell abnormalities that have previously been observed in AD mouse models, including enlarged place fields and lower across-session stability of place fields. Our results support the hypothesis that synaptic dysfunction underlies cognitive deficits, and demonstrate how impaired environmental representation may arise in the early stages of AD. We further propose that dysfunction of excitatory and inhibitory inputs to CA1 pyramidal cells may cause distinct impairments in place cell function, namely reduced stability and place map resolution.
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Affiliation(s)
- Natalie Ness
- Centre for Neurotechnology and Department of Bioengineering, Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Simon R. Schultz
- Centre for Neurotechnology and Department of Bioengineering, Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom
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15
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Abstract
When exploring new environments animals form spatial memories that are updated with experience and retrieved upon re-exposure to the same environment. The hippocampus is thought to support these memory processes, but how this is achieved by different subnetworks such as CA1 and CA3 remains unclear. To understand how hippocampal spatial representations emerge and evolve during familiarization, we performed 2-photon calcium imaging in mice running in new virtual environments and compared the trial-to-trial dynamics of place cells in CA1 and CA3 over days. We find that place fields in CA1 emerge rapidly but tend to shift backwards from trial-to-trial and remap upon re-exposure to the environment a day later. In contrast, place fields in CA3 emerge gradually but show more stable trial-to-trial and day-to-day dynamics. These results reflect different roles in CA1 and CA3 in spatial memory processing during familiarization to new environments and constrain the potential mechanisms that support them.
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MESH Headings
- Animals
- Behavior Observation Techniques
- Behavior, Animal/physiology
- CA1 Region, Hippocampal/cytology
- CA1 Region, Hippocampal/diagnostic imaging
- CA1 Region, Hippocampal/physiology
- CA3 Region, Hippocampal/cytology
- CA3 Region, Hippocampal/diagnostic imaging
- CA3 Region, Hippocampal/physiology
- Craniotomy
- Intravital Microscopy/instrumentation
- Intravital Microscopy/methods
- Male
- Mice
- Microscopy, Confocal/instrumentation
- Microscopy, Confocal/methods
- Models, Animal
- Optical Imaging/instrumentation
- Optical Imaging/methods
- Place Cells/physiology
- Space Perception/physiology
- Spatial Memory/physiology
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Affiliation(s)
- Can Dong
- Department of Neurobiology and Institute for Neuroscience, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA
| | - Antoine D Madar
- Department of Neurobiology and Institute for Neuroscience, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA
| | - Mark E J Sheffield
- Department of Neurobiology and Institute for Neuroscience, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA.
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16
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Nishimura Y, Ikegaya Y, Sasaki T. Prefrontal synaptic activation during hippocampal memory reactivation. Cell Rep 2021; 34:108885. [PMID: 33761365 DOI: 10.1016/j.celrep.2021.108885] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/29/2020] [Revised: 12/07/2020] [Accepted: 02/25/2021] [Indexed: 12/22/2022] Open
Abstract
Cooperative reactivation of hippocampal and prefrontal neurons is considered crucial for mnemonic processes. To directly record synaptic substances supporting the interregional interactions, we develop concurrent spike recordings of hippocampal neuronal ensembles and whole-cell patch-clamp recordings of medial prefrontal neurons in awake rats. We find that medial prefrontal neurons depolarize when hippocampal neurons synchronize. The depolarization in medial prefrontal neurons is larger when hippocampal place cells that encoded overlapping place fields and place cells that encoded a novel environment are synchronously reactivated. Our results suggest a functional circuit-synapse association that enables prefrontal neurons to read out specific memory traces from the hippocampus.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yuya Nishimura
- Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, The University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-0033, Japan
| | - Yuji Ikegaya
- Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, The University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-0033, Japan; Center for Information and Neural Networks, National Institute of Information and Communications Technology, 1-4 Yamadaoka, Suita City, Osaka 565-0871, Japan; Institute for AI and Beyond, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo 113-0033, Japan
| | - Takuya Sasaki
- Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, The University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-0033, Japan; Precursory Research for Embryonic Science and Technology (PRESTO), Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST), 4-1-8 Honcho, Kawaguchi, Saitama 332-0012, Japan.
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17
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Sharif F, Tayebi B, Buzsáki G, Royer S, Fernandez-Ruiz A. Subcircuits of Deep and Superficial CA1 Place Cells Support Efficient Spatial Coding across Heterogeneous Environments. Neuron 2021; 109:363-376.e6. [PMID: 33217328 PMCID: PMC7856084 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuron.2020.10.034] [Citation(s) in RCA: 36] [Impact Index Per Article: 12.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/14/2020] [Revised: 07/30/2020] [Accepted: 10/30/2020] [Indexed: 12/20/2022]
Abstract
The hippocampus is thought to guide navigation by forming a cognitive map of space. Different environments differ in geometry and the availability of cues that can be used for navigation. Although several spatial coding mechanisms are known to coexist in the hippocampus, how they are influenced by various environmental features is not well understood. To address this issue, we examined the spatial coding characteristics of hippocampal neurons in mice and rats navigating in different environments. We found that CA1 place cells located in the superficial sublayer were more active in cue-poor environments and preferentially used a firing rate code driven by intra-hippocampal inputs. In contrast, place cells located in the deep sublayer were more active in cue-rich environments and used a phase code driven by entorhinal inputs. Switching between these two spatial coding modes was supported by the interaction between excitatory gamma inputs and local inhibition.
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Affiliation(s)
- Farnaz Sharif
- Neuroscience Institute, New York University, Langone Medical Center, New York, NY 10016, USA; Department of Ophthalmology, Boston Children's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA
| | - Behnam Tayebi
- Neuroscience Institute, New York University, Langone Medical Center, New York, NY 10016, USA
| | - György Buzsáki
- Neuroscience Institute, New York University, Langone Medical Center, New York, NY 10016, USA; Center for Neural Science, New York University, New York, NY 10003, USA; Department of Neurology, Langone Medical Center, New York University, New York, NY 10016, USA
| | - Sébastien Royer
- Center for Functional Connectomics, Korea Institute of Science and Technology, Seoul 02792, Republic of Korea; Division of Bio-Medical Science and Technology, KIST School, Korea University of Science and Technology, Seoul 02792, Republic of Korea.
| | - Antonio Fernandez-Ruiz
- Neuroscience Institute, New York University, Langone Medical Center, New York, NY 10016, USA.
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18
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Goode TD, Tanaka KZ, Sahay A, McHugh TJ. An Integrated Index: Engrams, Place Cells, and Hippocampal Memory. Neuron 2020; 107:805-820. [PMID: 32763146 PMCID: PMC7486247 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuron.2020.07.011] [Citation(s) in RCA: 62] [Impact Index Per Article: 15.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/02/2020] [Revised: 06/17/2020] [Accepted: 07/13/2020] [Indexed: 01/10/2023]
Abstract
The hippocampus and its extended network contribute to encoding and recall of episodic experiences. Drawing from recent anatomical, physiological, and behavioral studies, we propose that hippocampal engrams function as indices to mediate memory recall. We broaden this idea to discuss potential relationships between engrams and hippocampal place cells, as well as the molecular, cellular, physiological, and circuit determinants of engrams that permit flexible routing of information to intra- and extrahippocampal circuits for reinstatement, a feature critical to memory indexing. Incorporating indexing into frameworks of memory function opens new avenues of study and even therapies for hippocampal dysfunction.
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Affiliation(s)
- Travis D Goode
- Center for Regenerative Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA 02114, USA; Harvard Stem Cell Institute, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA; Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02114 USA; Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA
| | - Kazumasa Z Tanaka
- Memory Research Unit, Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University, Onna-son, Kunigami-gun, Okinawa, Japan
| | - Amar Sahay
- Center for Regenerative Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA 02114, USA; Harvard Stem Cell Institute, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA; Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02114 USA; Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA.
| | - Thomas J McHugh
- Laboratory for Circuit and Behavioral Physiology, RIKEN Center for Brain Science, Wakoshi, Saitama, Japan.
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19
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Pedrosa V, Clopath C. The interplay between somatic and dendritic inhibition promotes the emergence and stabilization of place fields. PLoS Comput Biol 2020; 16:e1007955. [PMID: 32649658 PMCID: PMC7386595 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1007955] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/21/2020] [Revised: 07/28/2020] [Accepted: 05/15/2020] [Indexed: 01/10/2023] Open
Abstract
During the exploration of novel environments, place fields are rapidly formed in hippocampal CA1 neurons. Place cell firing rate increases in early stages of exploration of novel environments but returns to baseline levels in familiar environments. Although similar in amplitude and width, place fields in familiar environments are more stable than in novel environments. We propose a computational model of the hippocampal CA1 network, which describes the formation, dynamics and stabilization of place fields. We show that although somatic disinhibition is sufficient to form place fields, dendritic inhibition along with synaptic plasticity is necessary for place field stabilization. Our model suggests that place cell stability can be attributed to strong excitatory synaptic weights and strong dendritic inhibition. We show that the interplay between somatic and dendritic inhibition balances the increased excitatory weights, such that place cells return to their baseline firing rate after exploration. Our model suggests that different types of interneurons are essential to unravel the mechanisms underlying place field plasticity. Finally, we predict that artificially induced dendritic events can shift place fields even after place field stabilization.
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Affiliation(s)
- Victor Pedrosa
- Department of Bioengineering, Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom
- CAPES Foundation, Ministry of Education of Brazil, Brasilia - DF, Brazil
| | - Claudia Clopath
- Department of Bioengineering, Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom
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20
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Taube JS, Shinder ME. On the absence or presence of 3D tuned head direction cells in rats: a review and rebuttal. J Neurophysiol 2020; 123:1808-1827. [PMID: 32208877 PMCID: PMC8086636 DOI: 10.1152/jn.00475.2019] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/26/2019] [Revised: 03/20/2020] [Accepted: 03/22/2020] [Indexed: 11/22/2022] Open
Abstract
A major question in the field of spatial cognition is how animals represent three-dimensional (3D) space. Different results have been obtained across various species and may depend on whether the species inhabits a 3D environment or is terrestrial (land dwelling). The head direction (HD) cell system is an attractive candidate to study in terms of 3D representations. HD cells fire as a function of the animal's directional heading in the horizontal plane, independent of the animal's location and on-going behavior. Another issue concerns whether HD cells are tuned in 3D space or tuned to the 2D horizontal plane. Shinder and Taube (Shinder ME, Taube JS. J Neurophysiol 121: 4-37, 2019) addressed this issue by manipulating a rat's orientation in 3D space while monitoring responses from classic HD cells in the rat anterodorsal thalamus. They reported that HD cells did not display conjunctive firing with pitch or roll orientations. Direction-specific firing was primarily derived from horizontal semicircular canal information and that the gravity vector played an important role in influencing the cell's firing rate and its preferred firing direction. Laurens and Angelaki (Laurens J, Angelaki DE. J Neurophysiol 122: 1274-1287, 2019) challenged this view by performing a mathematical analysis on the Shinder and Taube data and concluded that they would not have seen 3D tuning based on their experimental approach. We provide a historical review of these issues followed by a summary of the experiments, which includes additional analyses. We then define what it means for a HD cell to be tuned in 3D and finish by rebutting the reanalyses performed by Laurens and Angelaki.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jeffrey S Taube
- Department of Psychological & Brain Sciences, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire
| | - Michael E Shinder
- Department of Psychological & Brain Sciences, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire
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21
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Abstract
We reveal how implementing the homogeneous, multi-scale mapping frameworks observed in the mammalian brain's mapping systems radically improves the performance of a range of current robotic localization techniques. Roboticists have developed a range of predominantly single- or dual-scale heterogeneous mapping approaches (typically locally metric and globally topological) that starkly contrast with neural encoding of space in mammalian brains: a multi-scale map underpinned by spatially responsive cells like the grid cells found in the rodent entorhinal cortex. Yet the full benefits of a homogeneous multi-scale mapping framework remain unknown in both robotics and biology: in robotics because of the focus on single- or two-scale systems and limits in the scalability and open-field nature of current test environments and benchmark datasets; in biology because of technical limitations when recording from rodents during movement over large areas. New global spatial databases with visual information varying over several orders of magnitude in scale enable us to investigate this question for the first time in real-world environments. In particular, we investigate and answer the following questions: why have multi-scale representations, how many scales should there be, what should the size ratio between consecutive scales be and how does the absolute scale size affect performance? We answer these questions by developing and evaluating a homogeneous, multi-scale mapping framework mimicking aspects of the rodent multi-scale map, but using current robotic place recognition techniques at each scale. Results in large-scale real-world environments demonstrate multi-faceted and significant benefits for mapping and localization performance and identify the key factors that determine performance.
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22
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Khamassi M, Girard B. Modeling awake hippocampal reactivations with model-based bidirectional search. Biol Cybern 2020; 114:231-248. [PMID: 32065253 DOI: 10.1007/s00422-020-00817-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/30/2019] [Accepted: 01/21/2020] [Indexed: 06/10/2023]
Abstract
Hippocampal offline reactivations during reward-based learning, usually categorized as replay events, have been found to be important for performance improvement over time and for memory consolidation. Recent computational work has linked these phenomena to the need to transform reward information into state-action values for decision making and to propagate it to all relevant states of the environment. Nevertheless, it is still unclear whether an integrated reinforcement learning mechanism could account for the variety of awake hippocampal reactivations, including variety in order (forward and reverse reactivated trajectories) and variety in the location where they occur (reward site or decision-point). Here, we present a model-based bidirectional search model which accounts for a variety of hippocampal reactivations. The model combines forward trajectory sampling from current position and backward sampling through prioritized sweeping from states associated with large reward prediction errors until the two trajectories connect. This is repeated until stabilization of state-action values (convergence), which could explain why hippocampal reactivations drastically diminish when the animal's performance stabilizes. Simulations in a multiple T-maze task show that forward reactivations are prominently found at decision-points while backward reactivations are exclusively generated at reward sites. Finally, the model can generate imaginary trajectories that are not allowed to the agent during task performance. We raise some experimental predictions and implications for future studies of the role of the hippocampo-prefronto-striatal network in learning.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mehdi Khamassi
- Institute of Intelligent Systems and Robotics (ISIR), Sorbonne Université and CNRS (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique), 75005, Paris, France.
| | - Benoît Girard
- Institute of Intelligent Systems and Robotics (ISIR), Sorbonne Université and CNRS (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique), 75005, Paris, France
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23
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Cazin N, Scleidorovich P, Weitzenfeld A, Dominey PF. Real-time sensory-motor integration of hippocampal place cell replay and prefrontal sequence learning in simulated and physical rat robots for novel path optimization. Biol Cybern 2020; 114:249-268. [PMID: 32095878 DOI: 10.1007/s00422-020-00820-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/03/2019] [Accepted: 02/04/2020] [Indexed: 06/10/2023]
Abstract
An open problem in the cognitive dimensions of navigation concerns how previous exploratory experience is reorganized in order to allow the creation of novel efficient navigation trajectories. This behavior is revealed in the "traveling salesrat problem" (TSP) when rats discover the shortest path linking baited food wells after a few exploratory traversals. We have recently published a model of navigation sequence learning, where sharp wave ripple replay of hippocampal place cells transmit "snippets" of the recent trajectories that the animal has explored to the prefrontal cortex (PFC) (Cazin et al. in PLoS Comput Biol 15:e1006624, 2019). PFC is modeled as a recurrent reservoir network that is able to assemble these snippets into the efficient sequence (trajectory of spatial locations coded by place cell activation). The model of hippocampal replay generates a distribution of snippets as a function of their proximity to a reward, thus implementing a form of spatial credit assignment that solves the TSP task. The integrative PFC reservoir reconstructs the efficient TSP sequence based on exposure to this distribution of snippets that favors paths that are most proximal to rewards. While this demonstrates the theoretical feasibility of the PFC-HIPP interaction, the integration of such a dynamic system into a real-time sensory-motor system remains a challenge. In the current research, we test the hypothesis that the PFC reservoir model can operate in a real-time sensory-motor loop. Thus, the main goal of the paper is to validate the model in simulated and real robot scenarios. Place cell activation encoding the current position of the simulated and physical rat robot feeds the PFC reservoir which generates the successor place cell activation that represents the next step in the reproduced sequence in the readout. This is input to the robot, which advances to the coded location and then generates de novo the current place cell activation. This allows demonstration of the crucial role of embodiment. If the spatial code readout from PFC is played back directly into PFC, error can accumulate, and the system can diverge from desired trajectories. This required a spatial filter to decode the PFC code to a location and then recode a new place cell code for that location. In the robot, the place cell vector output of PFC is used to physically displace the robot and then generate a new place cell coded input to the PFC, replacing part of the software recoding procedure that was required otherwise. We demonstrate how this integrated sensory-motor system can learn simple navigation sequences and then, importantly, how it can synthesize novel efficient sequences based on prior experience, as previously demonstrated (Cazin et al. 2019). This contributes to the understanding of hippocampal replay in novel navigation sequence formation and the important role of embodiment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nicolas Cazin
- INSERM UMR1093-CAPS, Université Bourgogne Franche-Comté, UFR des Sciences du Sport, 21000, Dijon, France
- Robot Cognition Laboratory, Institut Marey, INSERM U1093 CAPS, UBFC, Dijon, France
| | | | | | - Peter Ford Dominey
- INSERM UMR1093-CAPS, Université Bourgogne Franche-Comté, UFR des Sciences du Sport, 21000, Dijon, France.
- Robot Cognition Laboratory, Institut Marey, INSERM U1093 CAPS, UBFC, Dijon, France.
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24
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Scleidorovich P, Llofriu M, Fellous JM, Weitzenfeld A. A computational model for spatial cognition combining dorsal and ventral hippocampal place field maps: multiscale navigation. Biol Cybern 2020; 114:187-207. [PMID: 31915905 DOI: 10.1007/s00422-019-00812-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/29/2019] [Accepted: 11/22/2019] [Indexed: 06/10/2023]
Abstract
Classic studies have shown that place cells are organized along the dorsoventral axis of the hippocampus according to their field size, with dorsal hippocampal place cells having smaller field sizes than ventral place cells. Studies have also suggested that dorsal place cells are primarily involved in spatial navigation, while ventral place cells are primarily involved in context and emotional encoding. Additionally, recent work has shown that the entire longitudinal axis of the hippocampus may be involved in navigation. Based on the latter, in this paper we present a spatial cognition reinforcement learning model inspired by the multiscale organization of the dorsal-ventral axis of the hippocampus. The model analyzes possible benefits of a multiscale architecture in terms of the learning speed, the path optimality, and the number of cells in the context of spatial navigation. The model is evaluated in a goal-oriented task where simulated rats need to learn a path to the goal from multiple starting locations in various open-field maze configurations. The results show that smaller scales of representation are useful for improving path optimality, whereas larger scales are useful for reducing learning time and the number of cells required. The results also show that combining scales can enhance the performance of the multiscale model, with a trade-off between path optimality and learning time.
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Affiliation(s)
- Pablo Scleidorovich
- Department of Computer Science and Engineering, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL, USA.
| | - Martin Llofriu
- Department of Computer Science and Engineering, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL, USA
- Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Universidad de la Republica, Montevideo, Uruguay
| | | | - Alfredo Weitzenfeld
- Department of Computer Science and Engineering, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL, USA
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25
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Grieves RM, Jedidi-Ayoub S, Mishchanchuk K, Liu A, Renaudineau S, Jeffery KJ. The place-cell representation of volumetric space in rats. Nat Commun 2020; 11:789. [PMID: 32034157 PMCID: PMC7005894 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-14611-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 30] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/10/2019] [Accepted: 01/20/2020] [Indexed: 11/29/2022] Open
Abstract
Place cells are spatially modulated neurons found in the hippocampus that underlie spatial memory and navigation: how these neurons represent 3D space is crucial for a full understanding of spatial cognition. We wirelessly recorded place cells in rats as they explored a cubic lattice climbing frame which could be aligned or tilted with respect to gravity. Place cells represented the entire volume of the mazes: their activity tended to be aligned with the maze axes, and when it was more difficult for the animals to move vertically the cells represented space less accurately and less stably. These results demonstrate that even surface-dwelling animals represent 3D space and suggests there is a fundamental relationship between environment structure, gravity, movement and spatial memory.
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Affiliation(s)
- Roddy M Grieves
- University College London, Institute of Behavioural Neuroscience, Department of Experimental Psychology, London, UK.
| | - Selim Jedidi-Ayoub
- University College London, Institute of Behavioural Neuroscience, Department of Experimental Psychology, London, UK
| | - Karyna Mishchanchuk
- University College London, Institute of Behavioural Neuroscience, Department of Experimental Psychology, London, UK
| | - Anyi Liu
- University College London, Institute of Behavioural Neuroscience, Department of Experimental Psychology, London, UK
| | - Sophie Renaudineau
- University College London, Institute of Behavioural Neuroscience, Department of Experimental Psychology, London, UK
| | - Kate J Jeffery
- University College London, Institute of Behavioural Neuroscience, Department of Experimental Psychology, London, UK.
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26
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Basak R, Narayanan R. Robust emergence of sharply tuned place-cell responses in hippocampal neurons with structural and biophysical heterogeneities. Brain Struct Funct 2020; 225:567-590. [PMID: 31900587 DOI: 10.1007/s00429-019-02018-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/25/2019] [Accepted: 12/17/2019] [Indexed: 01/06/2023]
Abstract
Hippocampal pyramidal neurons sustain propagation of fast electrical signals and are electrotonically non-compact structures exhibiting cell-to-cell variability in their complex dendritic arborization. In this study, we demonstrate that sharp place-field tuning and several somatodendritic functional maps concomitantly emerge despite the presence of geometrical heterogeneities in these neurons. We establish this employing an unbiased stochastic search strategy involving thousands of models that spanned several morphologies and distinct profiles of dispersed synaptic localization and channel expression. Mechanistically, employing virtual knockout models (VKMs), we explored the impact of bidirectional modulation in dendritic spike prevalence on place-field tuning sharpness. Consistent with the prior literature, we found that across all morphologies, virtual knockout of either dendritic fast sodium channels or N-methyl-D-aspartate receptors led to a reduction in dendritic spike prevalence, whereas A-type potassium channel knockouts resulted in a non-specific increase in dendritic spike prevalence. However, place-field tuning sharpness was critically impaired in all three sets of VKMs, demonstrating that sharpness in feature tuning is maintained by an intricate balance between mechanisms that promote and those that prevent dendritic spike initiation. From the functional standpoint of the emergence of sharp feature tuning and intrinsic functional maps, within this framework, geometric variability was compensated by a combination of synaptic democracy, the ability of randomly dispersed synapses to yield sharp tuning through dendritic spike initiation, and ion-channel degeneracy. Our results suggest electrotonically non-compact neurons to be endowed with several degrees of freedom, encompassing channel expression, synaptic localization and morphological microstructure, in achieving sharp feature encoding and excitability homeostasis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Reshma Basak
- Cellular Neurophysiology Laboratory, Molecular Biophysics Unit, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, 560012, India
| | - Rishikesh Narayanan
- Cellular Neurophysiology Laboratory, Molecular Biophysics Unit, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, 560012, India.
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Laptev D, Burgess N. Neural Dynamics Indicate Parallel Integration of Environmental and Self-Motion Information by Place and Grid Cells. Front Neural Circuits 2019; 13:59. [PMID: 31636545 PMCID: PMC6788360 DOI: 10.3389/fncir.2019.00059] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/20/2019] [Accepted: 08/21/2019] [Indexed: 01/22/2023] Open
Abstract
Place cells and grid cells in the hippocampal formation are thought to integrate sensory and self-motion information into a representation of estimated spatial location, but the precise mechanism is unknown. We simulated a parallel attractor system in which place cells form an attractor network driven by environmental inputs and grid cells form an attractor network performing path integration driven by self-motion, with inter-connections between them allowing both types of input to influence firing in both ensembles. We show that such a system is needed to explain the spatial patterns and temporal dynamics of place cell firing when rats run on a linear track in which the familiar correspondence between environmental and self-motion inputs is changed. In contrast, the alternative architecture of a single recurrent network of place cells (performing path integration and receiving environmental inputs) cannot reproduce the place cell firing dynamics. These results support the hypothesis that grid and place cells provide two different but complementary attractor representations (based on self-motion and environmental sensory inputs, respectively). Our results also indicate the specific neural mechanism and main predictors of hippocampal map realignment and make predictions for future studies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dmitri Laptev
- UCL Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London, London, United Kingdom
- UCL Centre for Computation, Mathematics and Physics in the Life Sciences and Experimental Biology, Department of Computer Science, University College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Neil Burgess
- UCL Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London, London, United Kingdom
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Mamad O, Agayby B, Stumpp L, Reilly RB, Tsanov M. Extrafield Activity Shifts the Place Field Center of Mass to Encode Aversive Experience. eNeuro 2019; 6:ENEURO.0423-17.2019. [PMID: 30923741 PMCID: PMC6437659 DOI: 10.1523/eneuro.0423-17.2019] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/07/2017] [Revised: 12/21/2018] [Accepted: 01/14/2019] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Hippocampal place cells are known to have a key role in encoding spatial information. Aversive stimuli, such as predator odor, evoke place field remapping and a change in preferred firing locations. However, it remains unclear how place cells use positive or negative experiences to remap. We investigated whether CA1 place cells, recorded from behaving rats, remap randomly or whether their reconfiguration depends on the perceived location of the aversive stimulus. Exposure to trimethylthiazoline (TMT; an innately aversive odor), increased the amplitude of hippocampal β oscillations in the two arms of the maze in which TMT exposure occurred. We found that a population of place cells with fields located outside the TMT arms increased their activity (extrafield spiking) in the TMT arms during the aversive episodes. Moreover, in the subsequent post-TMT recording, these cells exhibited a significant shift in their center of mass (COM) towards the TMT arms. The induction of extrafield plasticity was mediated by the basolateral amygdala complex (BLA). Photostimulation of the BLA triggered aversive behavior, synchronized hippocampal local field oscillations, and increased the extrafield spiking of the hippocampal place cells for the first 100 ms after light delivery. Optogenetic BLA activation triggered an increase in extrafield spiking activity that was correlated with the degree of place field plasticity. Furthermore, BLA-mediated increase of the extrafield activity predicts the degree of subsequent field plasticity. Our findings demonstrate that that the remapping of hippocampal place cells during aversive episodes is not random but it depends on the location of the aversive stimulus.
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Affiliation(s)
- Omar Mamad
- Trinity College Institute of Neuroscience
- School of Psychology
| | - Beshoy Agayby
- Trinity College Institute of Neuroscience
- Trinity Centre for Bioengineering
- School of Engineering
| | - Lars Stumpp
- Trinity College Institute of Neuroscience
- Trinity Centre for Bioengineering
- School of Engineering
| | - Richard B. Reilly
- Trinity College Institute of Neuroscience
- Trinity Centre for Bioengineering
- School of Engineering
- School of Medicine, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin 2, Ireland
| | - Marian Tsanov
- Trinity College Institute of Neuroscience
- School of Psychology
- School of Medicine, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin 2, Ireland
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Tampuu A, Matiisen T, Ólafsdóttir HF, Barry C, Vicente R. Efficient neural decoding of self-location with a deep recurrent network. PLoS Comput Biol 2019; 15:e1006822. [PMID: 30768590 PMCID: PMC6407788 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1006822] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/04/2018] [Revised: 03/08/2019] [Accepted: 01/28/2019] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Abstract
Place cells in the mammalian hippocampus signal self-location with sparse spatially stable firing fields. Based on observation of place cell activity it is possible to accurately decode an animal’s location. The precision of this decoding sets a lower bound for the amount of information that the hippocampal population conveys about the location of the animal. In this work we use a novel recurrent neural network (RNN) decoder to infer the location of freely moving rats from single unit hippocampal recordings. RNNs are biologically plausible models of neural circuits that learn to incorporate relevant temporal context without the need to make complicated assumptions about the use of prior information to predict the current state. When decoding animal position from spike counts in 1D and 2D-environments, we show that the RNN consistently outperforms a standard Bayesian approach with either flat priors or with memory. In addition, we also conducted a set of sensitivity analysis on the RNN decoder to determine which neurons and sections of firing fields were the most influential. We found that the application of RNNs to neural data allowed flexible integration of temporal context, yielding improved accuracy relative to the more commonly used Bayesian approaches and opens new avenues for exploration of the neural code. Being able to accurately self-localize is critical for most motile organisms. In mammals, place cells in the hippocampus appear to be a central component of the brain network responsible for this ability. In this work we recorded the activity of a population of hippocampal neurons from freely moving rodents and carried out neural decoding to determine the animals’ locations. We found that a machine learning approach using recurrent neural networks (RNNs) allowed us to predict the rodents’ true positions more accurately than a standard Bayesian method with flat priors (i.e. maximum likelihood estimator, MLE) as well as a Bayesian approach with memory (i.e. with priors informed by past activity). The RNNs are able to take into account past neural activity without making assumptions about the statistics of neuronal firing. Further, by analyzing the representations learned by the network we were able to determine which neurons, and which aspects of their activity, contributed most strongly to the accurate decoding.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ardi Tampuu
- Computational Neuroscience Lab, Institute of Computer Science, University of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia
| | - Tambet Matiisen
- Computational Neuroscience Lab, Institute of Computer Science, University of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia
| | - H. Freyja Ólafsdóttir
- Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, University College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Caswell Barry
- Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, University College London, London, United Kingdom
- * E-mail: (RV); (CB)
| | - Raul Vicente
- Computational Neuroscience Lab, Institute of Computer Science, University of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia
- * E-mail: (RV); (CB)
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Jayakumar RP, Madhav MS, Savelli F, Blair HT, Cowan NJ, Knierim JJ. Recalibration of path integration in hippocampal place cells. Nature 2019; 566:533-537. [PMID: 30742074 PMCID: PMC6629428 DOI: 10.1038/s41586-019-0939-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 47] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/15/2018] [Accepted: 01/10/2019] [Indexed: 01/11/2023]
Abstract
Hippocampal place cells are spatially tuned neurons that serve as elements of a 'cognitive map' in the mammalian brain1. To detect the animal's location, place cells are thought to rely upon two interacting mechanisms: sensing the position of the animal relative to familiar landmarks2,3 and measuring the distance and direction that the animal has travelled from previously occupied locations4-7. The latter mechanism-known as path integration-requires a finely tuned gain factor that relates the animal's self-movement to the updating of position on the internal cognitive map, as well as external landmarks to correct the positional error that accumulates8,9. Models of hippocampal place cells and entorhinal grid cells based on path integration treat the path-integration gain as a constant9-14, but behavioural evidence in humans suggests that the gain is modifiable15. Here we show, using physiological evidence from rat hippocampal place cells, that the path-integration gain is a highly plastic variable that can be altered by persistent conflict between self-motion cues and feedback from external landmarks. In an augmented-reality system, visual landmarks were moved in proportion to the movement of a rat on a circular track, creating continuous conflict with path integration. Sustained exposure to this cue conflict resulted in predictable and prolonged recalibration of the path-integration gain, as estimated from the place cells after the landmarks were turned off. We propose that this rapid plasticity keeps the positional update in register with the movement of the rat in the external world over behavioural timescales. These results also demonstrate that visual landmarks not only provide a signal to correct cumulative error in the path-integration system4,8,16-19, but also rapidly fine-tune the integration computation itself.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Manu S Madhav
- Zanvyl Krieger Mind/Brain Institute, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA.
| | - Francesco Savelli
- Zanvyl Krieger Mind/Brain Institute, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA
| | - Hugh T Blair
- Department of Psychology, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Noah J Cowan
- Department of Mechanical Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA
- Laboratory for Computational Sensing and Robotics, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA
| | - James J Knierim
- Zanvyl Krieger Mind/Brain Institute, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA
- Solomon H. Snyder Department of Neuroscience, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA
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Abstract
Effective navigation relies on knowledge of one's environment. A challenge to effective navigation is accounting for the time and energy costs of routes. Irregular terrain in ecological environments poses a difficult navigational problem as organisms ought to avoid effortful slopes to minimize travel costs. Route planning and navigation have previously been shown to involve hippocampal place cells and their ability to encode and store information about an organism's environment. However, little is known about how place cells may encode the slope of space and associated energy costs as experiments are traditionally carried out in flat, horizontal environments. We set out to investigate how dorsal-CA1 place cells in rats encode systematic changes to the slope of an environment by tilting a shuttle box from flat to 15 ° and 25 ° while minimizing external cue change. Overall, place cell encoding of tilted space was as robust as their encoding of flat ground as measured by traditional place cell metrics such as firing rates, spatial information, coherence, and field size. A large majority of place cells did, however, respond to slope by undergoing partial, complex remapping when the environment was shifted from one tilt angle to another. The propensity for place cells to remap did not, however, depend on the vertical distance the field shifted. Changes in slope also altered the temporal coding of information as measured by the rate of theta phase precession of place cell spikes, which decreased with increasing tilt angles. Together these observations indicate that place cells are sensitive to relatively small changes in terrain slope and that terrain slope may be an important source of information for organizing place cell ensembles. The terrain slope information encoded by place cells could be utilized by efferent regions to determine energetically advantageous routes to goal locations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Blake S. Porter
- Department of PsychologyUniversity of OtagoDunedin, 9016New Zealand
- Brain Health Research CentreDivision of Sciences, University of OtagoDunedin, 9016New Zealand
| | - Robert Schmidt
- Department of Psychologythe University of SheffieldSheffield, S1 2LTUnited Kingdom
| | - David K. Bilkey
- Department of PsychologyUniversity of OtagoDunedin, 9016New Zealand
- Brain Health Research CentreDivision of Sciences, University of OtagoDunedin, 9016New Zealand
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Chowdhury S, Dai B, Mémoli F. The importance of forgetting: Limiting memory improves recovery of topological characteristics from neural data. PLoS One 2018; 13:e0202561. [PMID: 30180172 PMCID: PMC6122934 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0202561] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/20/2017] [Accepted: 08/05/2018] [Indexed: 11/25/2022] Open
Abstract
We develop of a line of work initiated by Curto and Itskov towards understanding the amount of information contained in the spike trains of hippocampal place cells via topology considerations. Previously, it was established that simply knowing which groups of place cells fire together in an animal's hippocampus is sufficient to extract the global topology of the animal's physical environment. We model a system where collections of place cells group and ungroup according to short-term plasticity rules. In particular, we obtain the surprising result that in experiments with spurious firing, the accuracy of the extracted topological information decreases with the persistence (beyond a certain regime) of the cell groups. This suggests that synaptic transience, or forgetting, is a mechanism by which the brain counteracts the effects of spurious place cell activity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Samir Chowdhury
- Department of Mathematics, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, United States of America
| | - Bowen Dai
- Department of Computer Science, Dartmouth University, Hanover, New Hampshire, United States of America
| | - Facundo Mémoli
- Department of Mathematics, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, United States of America
- Department of Computer Science and Engineering, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, United States of America
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Spiers HJ, Olafsdottir HF, Lever C. Hippocampal CA1 activity correlated with the distance to the goal and navigation performance. Hippocampus 2018; 28:644-658. [PMID: 29149774 PMCID: PMC6282985 DOI: 10.1002/hipo.22813] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/08/2017] [Revised: 10/25/2017] [Accepted: 11/09/2017] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
Coding the distance to a future goal is an important function of a neural system supporting navigation. While some evidence indicates the hippocampus increases activity with proximity to the goal, others have found activity to decrease with proximity. To explore goal distance coding in the hippocampus we recorded from CA1 hippocampal place cells in rats as they navigated to learned goals in an event arena with a win-stay lose-shift rule. CA1 activity was positively correlated with the distance - decreasing with proximity to the goal. The stronger the correlation between distance to the goal and CA1 activity, the more successful navigation was in a given task session. Acceleration, but not speed, was also correlated with the distance to the goal. However, the relationship between CA1 activity and navigation performance was independent of variation in acceleration and variation in speed. These results help clarify the situations in which CA1 activity encodes navigationally relevant information and the extent to which it relates to behavior.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hugo J. Spiers
- Division of Psychology and Language Sciences, Department of Experimental Psychology, UCL Institute of Behavioural NeuroscienceUniversity College LondonLondonUK
| | - H. Freyja Olafsdottir
- Division of Biosciences, Department of Cell & Developmental BiologyUniversity College LondonUK
| | - Colin Lever
- Department of PsychologyUniversity of DurhamDurhamUK
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Bilkey DK, Cheyne KR, Eckert MJ, Lu X, Chowdhury S, Worley PF, Crandall JE, Abraham WC. Exposure to complex environments results in more sparse representations of space in the hippocampus. Hippocampus 2017; 27:1178-1191. [PMID: 28686801 PMCID: PMC5752118 DOI: 10.1002/hipo.22762] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/15/2017] [Revised: 05/30/2017] [Accepted: 06/27/2017] [Indexed: 12/27/2022]
Abstract
The neural circuitry mediating sensory and motor representations is adaptively tuned by an animal's interaction with its environment. Similarly, higher order representations such as spatial memories can be modified by exposure to a complex environment (CE), but in this case the changes in brain circuitry that mediate the effect are less well understood. Here, we show that prolonged CE exposure was associated with increased selectivity of CA1 "place cells" to a particular recording arena compared to a social control (SC) group. Furthermore, fewer CA1 and DG neurons in the CE group expressed high levels of Arc protein, a marker of recent activation, following brief exposure to a completely novel environment. The reduced Arc expression was not attributable to overall changes in cell density or number. These data indicate that one effect of CE exposure is to modify high-level spatial representations in the brain by increasing the sparsity of population coding within networks of neurons. Greater sparsity could result in a more efficient and compact coding system that might alter behavioural performance on spatial tasks. The results from a behavioural experiment were consistent with this hypothesis, as CE-treated animals habituated more rapidly to a novel environment despite showing equivalent initial responding.
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Affiliation(s)
- David K. Bilkey
- Department of Psychology and the Brain Health Research Centre, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand
| | - Kirsten R. Cheyne
- Department of Psychology and the Brain Health Research Centre, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand
| | - Michael J. Eckert
- Department of Psychology and the Brain Health Research Centre, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand
| | - Xiaodong Lu
- Department of Psychology and the Brain Health Research Centre, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand
| | - Shoaib Chowdhury
- The Solomon H. Snyder Department of Neuroscience, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, 725 North Wolfe St, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA
| | - Paul F. Worley
- The Solomon H. Snyder Department of Neuroscience, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, 725 North Wolfe St, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA
| | - James E. Crandall
- Eunice Kennedy Shriver Center, University of Massachusetts Medical School Waltham, MA 02452, USA
| | - Wickliffe C. Abraham
- Department of Psychology and the Brain Health Research Centre, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand
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Ólafsdóttir HF, Carpenter F, Barry C. Task Demands Predict a Dynamic Switch in the Content of Awake Hippocampal Replay. Neuron 2017; 96:925-935.e6. [PMID: 29056296 PMCID: PMC5697915 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuron.2017.09.035] [Citation(s) in RCA: 61] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/30/2017] [Revised: 07/19/2017] [Accepted: 09/22/2017] [Indexed: 01/25/2023]
Abstract
Reactivation of hippocampal place cell sequences during behavioral immobility and rest has been linked with both memory consolidation and navigational planning. Yet it remains to be investigated whether these functions are temporally segregated, occurring during different behavioral states. During a self-paced spatial task, awake hippocampal replay occurring either immediately before movement toward a reward location or just after arrival at a reward location preferentially involved cells consistent with the current trajectory. In contrast, during periods of extended immobility, no such biases were evident. Notably, the occurrence of task-focused reactivations predicted the accuracy of subsequent spatial decisions. Additionally, during immobility, but not periods preceding or succeeding movement, grid cells in deep layers of the entorhinal cortex replayed coherently with the hippocampus. Thus, hippocampal reactivations dynamically and abruptly switch between operational modes in response to task demands, plausibly moving from a state favoring navigational planning to one geared toward memory consolidation.
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Affiliation(s)
- H Freyja Ólafsdóttir
- Research Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, UCL, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, UK.
| | - Francis Carpenter
- Research Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, UCL, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, UK; Institute of Neurology, UCL, Queen Square, London WC1N 3BQ, UK
| | - Caswell Barry
- Research Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, UCL, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, UK.
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Harland B, Grieves RM, Bett D, Stentiford R, Wood ER, Dudchenko PA. Lesions of the Head Direction Cell System Increase Hippocampal Place Field Repetition. Curr Biol 2017; 27:2706-2712.e2. [PMID: 28867207 PMCID: PMC5607353 DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2017.07.071] [Citation(s) in RCA: 40] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/26/2017] [Revised: 07/02/2017] [Accepted: 07/31/2017] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
Abstract
A central tenet of systems neuroscience is that the mammalian hippocampus provides a cognitive map of the environment. This view is supported by the finding of place cells, neurons whose firing is tuned to specific locations in an animal's environment, within this brain region. Recent work, however, has shown that these cells repeat their firing fields across visually identical maze compartments [1, 2]. This repetition is not observed if these compartments face different directions, suggesting that place cells use a directional input to differentiate otherwise similar local environments [3, 4]. A clear candidate for this input is the head direction cell system. To test this, we disrupted the head direction cell system by lesioning the lateral mammillary nuclei and then recorded place cells as rats explored multiple, connected compartments, oriented in the same or in different directions. As shown previously, we found that place cells in control animals exhibited repeated fields in compartments arranged in parallel, but not in compartments facing different directions. In contrast, the place cells of animals with lesions of the head direction cell system exhibited repeating fields in both conditions. Thus, directional information provided by the head direction cell system appears essential for the angular disambiguation by place cells of visually identical compartments.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bruce Harland
- Faculty of Natural Sciences, University of Stirling, Stirling FK9 4LA, UK; Centre for Cognitive and Neural Systems, Edinburgh Medical School: Biomedical Sciences, University of Edinburgh, 1 George Square, Edinburgh EH8 9JZ, UK
| | - Roddy M Grieves
- Faculty of Natural Sciences, University of Stirling, Stirling FK9 4LA, UK; Centre for Cognitive and Neural Systems, Edinburgh Medical School: Biomedical Sciences, University of Edinburgh, 1 George Square, Edinburgh EH8 9JZ, UK; University College London, Institute of Behavioural Neuroscience, Department of Experimental Psychology, London, UK
| | - David Bett
- Faculty of Natural Sciences, University of Stirling, Stirling FK9 4LA, UK; Centre for Cognitive and Neural Systems, Edinburgh Medical School: Biomedical Sciences, University of Edinburgh, 1 George Square, Edinburgh EH8 9JZ, UK
| | - Rachael Stentiford
- Centre for Cognitive and Neural Systems, Edinburgh Medical School: Biomedical Sciences, University of Edinburgh, 1 George Square, Edinburgh EH8 9JZ, UK
| | - Emma R Wood
- Centre for Cognitive and Neural Systems, Edinburgh Medical School: Biomedical Sciences, University of Edinburgh, 1 George Square, Edinburgh EH8 9JZ, UK
| | - Paul A Dudchenko
- Faculty of Natural Sciences, University of Stirling, Stirling FK9 4LA, UK; Centre for Cognitive and Neural Systems, Edinburgh Medical School: Biomedical Sciences, University of Edinburgh, 1 George Square, Edinburgh EH8 9JZ, UK.
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del Pino I, Brotons-Mas JR, Marques-Smith A, Marighetto A, Frick A, Marín O, Rico B. Abnormal wiring of CCK + basket cells disrupts spatial information coding. Nat Neurosci 2017; 20:784-792. [PMID: 28394324 PMCID: PMC5446788 DOI: 10.1038/nn.4544] [Citation(s) in RCA: 52] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/06/2016] [Accepted: 03/13/2017] [Indexed: 12/13/2022]
Abstract
The function of cortical GABAergic interneurons is largely determined by their integration into specific neural circuits, but the mechanisms controlling the wiring of these cells remain largely unknown. This is particularly true for a major population of basket cells that express the neuropeptide cholecystokinin (CCK). Here we found that the tyrosine kinase receptor ErbB4 was required for the normal integration into cortical circuits of basket cells expressing CCK and vesicular glutamate transporter 3 (VGlut3). The number of inhibitory synapses made by CCK+VGlut3+ basket cells and the inhibitory drive they exerted on pyramidal cells were reduced in conditional mice lacking ErbB4. Developmental disruption of the connectivity of these cells diminished the power of theta oscillations during exploratory behavior, disrupted spatial coding by place cells, and caused selective alterations in spatial learning and memory in adult mice. These results suggest that normal integration of CCK+ basket cells in cortical networks is key to support spatial coding in the hippocampus.
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Affiliation(s)
- Isabel del Pino
- Centre for Developmental Neurobiology, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King’s College London, London SE1 1UL, United Kingdom
- Instituto de Neurociencias, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas & Universidad Miguel Hernández, Sant Joan d’Alacant 03550, Spain
| | - Jorge R. Brotons-Mas
- Instituto de Neurociencias, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas & Universidad Miguel Hernández, Sant Joan d’Alacant 03550, Spain
| | - André Marques-Smith
- Centre for Developmental Neurobiology, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King’s College London, London SE1 1UL, United Kingdom
- MRC Centre for Neurodevelopmental Disorders, King’s College London, London SE1 1UL, United Kingdom
| | | | - Andreas Frick
- Neurocentre Magendie INSERM U1215, 33077 Bordeaux, France
| | - Oscar Marín
- Centre for Developmental Neurobiology, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King’s College London, London SE1 1UL, United Kingdom
- Instituto de Neurociencias, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas & Universidad Miguel Hernández, Sant Joan d’Alacant 03550, Spain
- MRC Centre for Neurodevelopmental Disorders, King’s College London, London SE1 1UL, United Kingdom
| | - Beatriz Rico
- Centre for Developmental Neurobiology, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King’s College London, London SE1 1UL, United Kingdom
- Instituto de Neurociencias, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas & Universidad Miguel Hernández, Sant Joan d’Alacant 03550, Spain
- MRC Centre for Neurodevelopmental Disorders, King’s College London, London SE1 1UL, United Kingdom
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Peck JR, Taube JS. The postrhinal cortex is not necessary for landmark control in rat head direction cells. Hippocampus 2017; 27:156-168. [PMID: 27860052 PMCID: PMC5235971 DOI: 10.1002/hipo.22680] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/27/2016] [Revised: 11/02/2016] [Accepted: 11/04/2016] [Indexed: 11/06/2022]
Abstract
The rodent postrhinal cortex (POR), homologous to primate areas TH/TF and the human 'parahippocampal place area', has been implicated in processing visual landmark and contextual information about the environment. Head direction (HD) cells are neurons that encode allocentric head direction, independent of the animal's location or behavior, and are influenced by manipulations of visual landmarks. The present study determined whether the POR plays a role in processing environmental information within the HD circuit. Experiment 1 tested the role of the POR in processing visual landmark cues in the HD system during manipulation of a visual cue. HD cells from POR lesioned animals had similar firing properties, shifted their preferred firing direction following rotation of a salient visual cue, and in darkness had preferred firing directions that drifted at the same rate as controls. Experiment 2 tested the PORs involvement in contextual fear conditioning, where the animal learns to associate a shock with both a tone and a context in which the shock was given. In agreement with previous studies, POR lesioned animals were able to learn the tone-shock pairing, but displayed less freezing relative to controls when reintroduced into the environment previously paired with a shock. Therefore, HD cells from POR lesioned animals, with demonstrated impairments in contextual fear conditioning, were able to use a visual landmark to control their preferred direction. Thus, despite its importance in processing visual landmark information in primates, the POR in rats does not appear to play a pivotal role in controlling visual landmark information in the HD system. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
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Affiliation(s)
- James R Peck
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Dartmouth College, 6207 Moore Hall, Hanover, New Hampshire, 03755
| | - Jeffery S Taube
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Dartmouth College, 6207 Moore Hall, Hanover, New Hampshire, 03755
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Ambrose RE, Pfeiffer BE, Foster DJ. Reverse Replay of Hippocampal Place Cells Is Uniquely Modulated by Changing Reward. Neuron 2016; 91:1124-1136. [PMID: 27568518 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuron.2016.07.047] [Citation(s) in RCA: 148] [Impact Index Per Article: 18.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/04/2015] [Revised: 05/28/2016] [Accepted: 07/21/2016] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
Abstract
Hippocampal replays are episodes of sequential place cell activity during sharp-wave ripple oscillations (SWRs). Conflicting hypotheses implicate awake replay in learning from reward and in memory retrieval for decision making. Further, awake replays can be forward, in the same order as experienced, or reverse, in the opposite order. However, while the presence or absence of reward has been reported to modulate SWR rate, the effect of reward changes on replay, and on replay direction in particular, has not been examined. Here we report divergence in the response of forward and reverse replays to changing reward. While both classes of replays were observed at reward locations, only reverse replays increased their rate at increased reward or decreased their rate at decreased reward, while forward replays were unchanged. These data demonstrate a unique relationship between reverse replay and reward processing and point to a functional distinction between different directions of replay. VIDEO ABSTRACT.
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Affiliation(s)
- R Ellen Ambrose
- Solomon H. Snyder Department of Neuroscience, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA
| | - Brad E Pfeiffer
- Solomon H. Snyder Department of Neuroscience, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA
| | - David J Foster
- Solomon H. Snyder Department of Neuroscience, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA.
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Abstract
Place cells in the rat hippocampus play a key role in creating the animal's internal representation of the world. During active navigation, these cells spike only in discrete locations, together encoding a map of the environment. Electrophysiological recordings have shown that the animal can revisit this map mentally during both sleep and awake states, reactivating the place cells that fired during its exploration in the same sequence in which they were originally activated. Although consistency of place cell activity during active navigation is arguably enforced by sensory and proprioceptive inputs, it remains unclear how a consistent representation of space can be maintained during spontaneous replay. We propose a model that can account for this phenomenon and suggest that a spatially consistent replay requires a number of constraints on the hippocampal network that affect its synaptic architecture and the statistics of synaptic connection strengths.
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Affiliation(s)
- Y Dabaghian
- Jan and Dan Duncan Neurological Research Institute, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX 77030, and Department of Computational and Applied Mathematics, Rice University, Houston, TX 77005, U.S.A.
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