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Environment geometry alters subiculum boundary vector cell receptive fields in adulthood and early development

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Muessig, Laurenz, Ribeiro Rodrigues, Fabio, Bjerknes, Tale L., Towse, Benjamin W., Barry, Caswell, Burgess, Neil, Moser, Edvard I., Moser, May-Britt +2 more·2024·Nature Communications
DOI 10.1038/s41467-024-45098-1PMC PMC10834499
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Abstract

Boundaries to movement form a specific class of landmark information used for navigation: Boundary Vector Cells (BVCs) are neurons which encode an animal’s location as a vector displacement from boundaries. Here we characterise the prevalence and spatial tuning of subiculum BVCs in adult and developing male rats, and investigate the relationship between BVC spatial firing and boundary geometry. BVC directional tunings align with environment walls in squares, but are uniformly distributed in circles, demonstrating that environmental geometry alters BVC receptive fields. Inserted barriers uncover both excitatory and inhibitory components to BVC receptive fields, demonstrating that inhibitory inputs contribute to BVC field formation. During post-natal development, subiculum BVCs mature slowly, contrasting with the earlier maturation of boundary-responsive cells in upstream Entorhinal Cortex. However, Subiculum and Entorhinal BVC receptive fields are altered by boundary geometry as early as tested, suggesting this is an inherent feature of the hippocampal representation of space.

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  • Mammalian PCs are notable for their representational flexibility, while other spatial cells exhibit more coherent shifts across environments.

    “Mammalian PCs are notable for their representational flexibility10,40,41, while other spatial cells exhibit more coherent shifts across environments42–44.”

    From A population code for spatial representation in the zebrafish telencephalon (2024) · cites this paper as [44]

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Authors
Muessig, L., Ribeiro Rodrigues, F., Bjerknes, T. L., Towse, B. W., Barry, C., Burgess, N., Moser, E. I., Moser, M.-B., Cacucci, F., & Wills, T. J.
Affiliations
  • University College London (GB)
  • Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NO)
  • UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology (GB)
Corresponding author
Wills, Thomas J.
ORCID
Venue
Nature Communications
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Published
2024-02-01
Volume
15
Issue
1
Pages
982-982
ISSN
2041-1723 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.1038/s41467-024-45098-1
PMC
PMC10834499
OpenAlex
W4391428605
Cited by
23
References
8
Citations by year
2026: 7 · 2025: 10 · 2024: 5 · 2023: 1
FWCI
5.34
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • Nature Communications (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • UCL Discovery (University College London) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
  • RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion)
Funders
  • Wellcome Trust (220886/Z/20/Z)
  • Royal Society (UF150692, UF100746)
  • Directorate for Biological Sciences
  • Medical Research Council (MR/N026012/1)
  • Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BB/I021221/1, BB/R009872/1)
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Memory and Neural Mechanisms
  • Physical Sciences › Engineering › Automotive Engineering › Spatial Cognition and Navigation
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Developmental Neuroscience › Neurogenesis and neuroplasticity mechanisms
Keywords
subiculum, entorhinal cortex, spatial navigation, environmental geometry, receptive fields, boundary geometry, spatial tuning, inhibitory synaptic input, postnatal development, rats
MeSH terms
Animals, Hippocampus, Male, Movement, Neurons, Space Perception, Entorhinal Cortex, Rats

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