Recordings of postsubiculum head direction cells following lesions of the laterodorsal thalamic nucleus

Abstract

Areas of the rodent limbic system are important for solving spatial tasks and accurate navigation. Previous studies have identified cells in the postsubiculum (PoS) and the lateral dorsal thalamus (LDN) which discharge as a function of the animal's head direction in the horizontal plane. These two brain areas are reciprocally connected with one another. To determine the contribution of the LDN to the functioning of PoS head direction cells, we lesioned the LDN and recorded single units in the PoS. We report here that lesions of the LDN had little effect upon the firing properties of PoS HD cells. In addition, HD cells from lesioned animals showed normal responses to two environmental manipulations: (1) when the salient visual cue was rotated the preferred firing directions of PoS HD cells shifted a similar amount and (2) cells frequently ceased firing, or had reductions in their peak firing rate, when the animal was restrained and passively rotated through the preferred firing direction. These results indicate that the LDN does not play a substantive role in either the generation or the stability of the HD cell signal in the PoS.