A non-canonical visual cortical-entorhinal pathway contributes to spatial navigation.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 38750027.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1038/s41467-024-48483-y and PMC identifier 11096324.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
Visual information is important for accurate spatial coding and memory-guided navigation. As a crucial area for spatial cognition, the medial entorhinal cortex (MEC) harbors diverse spatially tuned cells and functions as the major gateway relaying sensory inputs to the hippocampus containing place cells. However, how visual information enters the MEC has not been fully understood. Here, we identify a pathway originating in the secondary visual cortex (V2) and directly targeting MEC layer 5a (L5a). L5a neurons served as a network hub for visual processing in the MEC by routing visual inputs from multiple V2 areas to other local neurons and hippocampal CA1. Interrupting this pathway severely impaired visual stimulus-evoked neural activity in the MEC and performance of mice in navigation tasks. These observations reveal a visual cortical-entorhinal pathway highlighting the role of MEC L5a in sensory information transmission, a function typically attributed to MEC superficial layers before.
Medical subject headings
- Entorhinal Cortex
- Visual Cortex
- Spatial Navigation
- Neurons