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Dorsal–ventral organization of theta‐like activity intrinsic to entorhinal stellate neurons is mediated by differences in stochastic current fluctuations
Author(s) -
Dodson Paul D.,
Pastoll Hugh,
Nolan Matthew F.
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
the journal of physiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.802
H-Index - 240
eISSN - 1469-7793
pISSN - 0022-3751
DOI - 10.1113/jphysiol.2011.205021
Subject(s) - neuroscience , encoding (memory) , dorsum , entorhinal cortex , physics , biology , hippocampus , anatomy
Non‐technical summary Navigation by mammals relies on neurons in the brain that encode location, but the mechanisms involved are not understood. Some theories propose critical roles for oscillations generated intrinsically by location‐encoding neurons. Correlations between the frequency of intrinsic activity and the resolution of location encoding support this idea. However, other evidence suggests that cellular mechanisms thought to set the frequency of intrinsic activity may instead primarily function to tune neuronal responses to synaptic input. This study provides evidence that activity intrinsic to location‐encoding neurons is explained by random opening and closing of neuronal ion channels and is not consistent with oscillator theories. The correlation between intrinsic frequency fluctuations and resolution of spatial encoding is explained by differences in the density of ion channels that account for tuning of synaptic responses. These results point towards the importance of synaptic response tuning for encoding of spatial location.