Grid cells are modulated by local head direction

Neurons with grid firing fields are thought to play important roles in spatial cognition. Here, the authors show that in contrast to assumptions underlying current models and analyses, grid fields are modulated by local head direction; this suggests different mechanisms and new roles for grid firing

Grid cells are modulated by local head direction

In vivo tetrode recordings from the medial entorhinal cortex of mice during open field exploration. This data set contains recordings from grid cells, conjunctive cells and other spatial cells. Please look at Gerlei_et_at_2020_where_to_find_data_and_code.xlsx to find which files to download to replicate specific figures. If you only need the data from the sorted clusters, (firing times, position...) download SORTED_CLUSTERS.zipNolan, Matthew; Gerlei, Klara; Passlack, Jessica; Hawes, Ian; Vandrey, Brianna; Stevens, Holly; Papastathopoulos, Ioannis. (2020). Grid cells are modulated by local head direction, [dataset]. University of Edinburgh. https://doi.org/10.7488/ds/2855

Stellate cells in medial entorhinal cortex are required for spatial learning

Spatial learning requires estimates of location that may be obtained by path integration or from positional cues. Grid and other spatial firing patterns of neurons in the superficial medial entorhinal cortex (MEC) suggest roles in behavioral estimation of location. However, distinguishing contributions of path integration and cue-based signals to spatial behaviors is challenging, and the roles of identified MEC neurons are unclear. We use virtual reality to dissociate linear path integration from other strategies for behavioral estimation of location. We find that mice learn to path integrate using motor-related self-motion signals, with accuracy that decreases steeply as a function of distance. We show that inactivation of stellate cells in superficial MEC impairs spatial learning in the virtual-reality task and in a real world object location recognition task. Our results quantify contributions of path integration to behavior and corroborate key predictions of models in which stellate cells contribute to location estimation.Tennant, Sarah; Garden, Derek; Klara, Gerlei; Martinez-Gonzalez, Cristina; McClure, Christina; Wood, Emma; Nolan, Matthew. (2018). Stellate cells in medial entorhinal cortex are required for spatial learning, [dataset]. University of Edinburgh. College of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine. School of Biomedical Sciences. Centre for Discovery Brain Sciences. http://dx.doi.org/10.7488/ds/2290