意外にも「ノンプレイス脳細胞」は正しい目標へのナビゲートに重要な役割を果たすことを発見(Oft-Ignored ‘Non-Place’ Brain Cells Play a Crucial Role in Helping Navigate to the Right Goal)

2022-03-31

2022-03-07 ジョージア工科大学

ジョージア工科大学とエモリー大学の研究者たちによる新しい研究は、私たちの脳が、ピーチツリーという名の正しい道にたどり着いたことを確認する仕組みに新たな光を当てている。そして、ナビゲーションのゴールと、近いけれども完全には正しくないゴールとを区別するのに役立つ神経細胞が、アルツハイマー病のモデルでも障害を受けていることが判明したのである。

<関連情報>

海馬のノンプレイス細胞における場所情報が曖昧なときの目標識別機能 Goal discrimination in hippocampal nonplace cells when place information is ambiguous

Lu Zhang, Stephanie M. Prince, Abigail L. Paulson, and Annabelle C. Singer,Lu Zhang,Stephanie M. Prince,Abigail L. Paulson,Annabelle C. Singer

journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences　Published:March 7, 2022

Handle Redirect

Abstract

Memory-guided navigation relies on hippocampal neurons, like place cells, that encode features of the environment. However, little is known about hippocampal place codes when spatial cues provide ambiguous information about finding goals. Nonplace cells, pyramidal cells that fire without strong spatial modulation in an environment, may be well-suited to carry task-relevant information when spatial information is ambiguous. We find that when spatial cues and goal information are conflicting, nonplace cell firing distinguishes between ambiguous spatial cues. On correct trials nonplace cells had higher firing rates and altered gamma-phase modulation at task-relevant cues than on incorrect trials, while place cells showed no such differences. Finally, this goal discrimination in nonplace cells is absent in a mouse model of Alzheimer’s disease that has memory impairment. Our findings show that nonplace cells differentiate ambiguous goal information that place cells do not, revealing a special contribution to coding by these nonplace cells.