Sparse orthogonal population representation of spatial context in the retrosplenial cortex

Dun Mao,Vincent Bonin,Bruce L Mcnaughton,Steffen Kandler

doi:10.1038/s41467-017-00180-9

Abstract

Sparse orthogonal coding is a key feature of hippocampal neural activity, which is believed to increase episodic memory capacity and to assist in navigation. Some retrosplenial cortex (RSC) neurons convey distributed spatial and navigational signals, but place-field representations such as observed in the hippocampus have not been reported. Combining cellular Ca2+ imaging in RSC of mice with a head-fixed locomotion assay, we identified a population of RSC neurons, located predominantly in superficial layers, whose ensemble activity closely resembles that of hippocampal CA1 place cells during the same task. Like CA1 place cells, these RSC neurons fire in sequences during movement, and show narrowly tuned firing fields that form a sparse, orthogonal code correlated with location. RSC ‘place’ cell activity is robust to environmental manipulations, showing partial remapping similar to that observed in CA1. This population code for spatial context may assist the RSC in its role in memory and/or navigation.

Highlights

Sparse orthogonal coding is a key feature of hippocampal neural activity, which is believed to increase episodic memory capacity and to assist in navigation
We discovered a substantial group of retrosplenial cortex (RSC) neurons, most numerous in the superficial subregions, that show spatially-localized activity that closely resembles the activity of CA1 place cells measured in the same behavioural assay
The results indicate that a subpopulation of neurons in the mouse RSC express a sparse, orthogonal and continuous representation of a linear environment that is highly similar in its properties to population of CA1 place cells

Summary

Introduction

Sparse orthogonal coding is a key feature of hippocampal neural activity, which is believed to increase episodic memory capacity and to assist in navigation. Similar to cellular imaging measurements made in real[4] and virtual[28, 30] environments, 47% (159/337) of electrically recorded and 26% (452/1758) of optically recorded hippocampal CA1 neurons met established criteria for place cell activity (see Methods) (Supplementary Fig. 1c, f)[30, 33].

Results

Conclusion