During hippocampal inactivation, grid cells maintain their synchrony, even when the grid pattern is lost [article]

Noam Almog, Gilad Tocker, Tora Bonnevie, Edvard Moser, May-Britt Moser, Dori Derdikman
2019 bioRxiv   pre-print
AbstractThe means by which grid cells form regular, hexagonal spatial firing patterns has been an enigma since their discovery in the medial entorhinal cortex (MEC). Here we re-analyzed data from Bonnevie et al. (2013), in which the hippocampus was inactivated and grid cells were recorded in the MEC, to investigate whether grid cells form an intrinsic network in the MEC, or alternatively, inherit their network properties from external sources. Specifically, we examined temporal and spatial
more » ... lations in the firing times of simultaneously recorded grid cells before and during hippocampal inactivation. Our analysis revealed evidence of network coherence in grid cells even in the absence of hippocampal input to the MEC, both in regular grid cells and in those that became head-direction cells after hippocampal inactivation. This favors models which suggest that phase relations between grid cells in the MEC are dependent on intrinsic connectivity within the MEC.
doi:10.1101/592006 fatcat:sjpjgoucmvahhlkiiaqgx2xuwa