Goal discrimination in hippocampal nonplace cells when place information is ambiguous.

Zhang, Lu; Prince, Stephanie M; Paulson, Abigail L; Singer, Annabelle C · Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A · 2022

basic_science · Level V

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Abstract

SignificanceGoal-directed spatial navigation has been found to rely on hippocampal neurons that are spatially modulated. We show that "nonplace" cells without significant spatial modulation play a role in discriminating goals when environmental cues for goals are ambiguous. This nonplace cell activity is performance-dependent and is modulated by gamma oscillations. Finally, nonplace cell goal discrimination coding fails in a mouse model of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Together, these results show that nonplace cell firing can signal unique task-relevant information when spatial information is ambiguous; these signals depend on performance and are absent in a mouse model of AD.

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