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Place Cells in Head-Fixed Mice Navigating a Floating Real-World Environment
Mary Ann Go1, Jake Rogers1, Giuseppe P Gava1
1Department of Bioengineering and Centre for Neurotechnology, Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom.
Frontiers in Cellular Neuroscience
|March 1, 2021
Summary
This study introduces a novel real-world environment for head-fixed mice, enabling better study of hippocampal place cells and spatial memory. This system overcomes limitations of virtual reality, offering new insights into brain circuits.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Cognitive Science
- Memory Research
Background:
- The hippocampal place cell system is crucial for understanding memory in rodents.
- Previous studies in virtual reality showed impaired spatial coding in head-fixed animals.
- A need exists for improved experimental systems to study spatial memory in head-fixed models.
Purpose of the Study:
- To demonstrate the efficacy of a real-world environment system for head-fixed mice.
- To investigate spatial coding and place cell activity in a novel experimental setup.
- To validate a new platform for studying memory function and dysfunction.
Main Methods:
- Head-fixed mice navigated a real-world environment on an air-floating track with proximal cues.
- Hippocampal activity was imaged using the genetically encoded calcium indicator GCaMP6s.
- Place cell tuning, remapping, and spatial information rates were analyzed.
Main Results:
- Consistent place tuning was observed in hippocampal cells, even without distal cues.
- Place fields showed remapping when environments changed and over time.
- Spatial information rates were comparable to freely moving mice, with low-dimensional subspace extraction.
Conclusions:
- The air-lifted real-world platform effectively supports place cell activity in head-fixed mice.
- This system offers advantages over virtual reality for studying spatial memory.
- The platform is a valuable tool for investigating brain circuits in memory and neurodegenerative disorders.
