Head-direction cells recorded from the postsubiculum in freely moving rats. I. Description and quantitative analysis

Abstract

This paper is a study of the behavioral and spatial firing correlates of neurons in the rat postsubiculum. Recordings were made from postsubicular neurons as rats moved freely throughout a cylindrical chamber, where the major cue for orientation was a white card taped to the inside wall. An automatic video/computer system monitored cell discharge while simultaneously tracking the position of 2 colored light emitting diodes (LEDs) secured to the animal's head. The animal's location was calculated from the position of one of the LEDs and head direction in the horizontal plane calculated from the relative positions of the 2 LEDs. Approximately 26% of the cells were classified as head-direction cells because they discharged as a function of the animal's head direction in the horizontal plane, independent of the animal's behavior, location, or trunk position. For each head-direction cell, vectors drawn in the direction of maximal firing were parallel throughout the recording chamber and did not converge toward a single point. Plots of firing rate versus head direction showed that each firing-rate/head-direction function was adequately described by a triangular function. Each cell's maximum firing rate occurred at only one (the preferred) head direction; firing rates at head directions on either side of the preferred direction decreased linearly with angular deviation from the preferred direction. Results from 24 head-direction cells in 7 animals showed an equal distribution of preferred firing directions over a 360 degrees angle. The peak firing rate of head- direction cells varied from 5 to 115 spikes/sec (mean: 35). The range of head-direction angles over which discharge was elevated (directional firing range) was usually about 90 degrees, with little, if any, discharge at head directions outside this range. Quantitative analysis showed the location of the animal within the cylinder had minimal effect on directional cell firing. For each head-direction cell, the preferred direction, peak firing rate, and directional firing range remained stable for days. These results identify a new cell type that signals the animal's head direction in its environment.

Is there a geometric module for spatial orientation? Insights from a rodent navigation model.

“…The second line in Equation A8 describes an algorithmic implementation of the integration of head angular velocity over time, which is thought to be performed in the brain by a network of head direction cells (Ranck, 1984;Taube, Muller, & Ranck, 1990a, 1990b. For neural models of the head direction network, see Arleo and Gerstner (2001) and Skaggs, Knierim, Kudrimoti, and McNaughton (1995).…”

Path planning versus cue responding: a bio-inspired model of switching between navigation strategies

“…The allocentric reference frame is fixed with respect to distal (room) cues and is assumed to be supported by the head direction network involving the anterodorsal nucleus of thalamus (Taube et al 1990). In this reference frame, the direction to the landmark Φ L is given with respect to the zero direction that is defined at the first entry to the environment (see Fig.…”

“…The use of allocentric directional frame implicitly requires the use of stable extra-maze cues with respect to which such a frame is defined. Our model does not include the estimation of the allocentric head direction from extra-maze cues (see Skaggs et al 1995;Zhang 1996), but it is assumed to be provided by the head direction network (Taube et al 1990. In contrast, infromation from the intra-maze cues is sufficient for the egocentric Taxon expert to determine direction to the goal.…”

A Continuous Attractor Network Model Without Recurrent Excitation: Maintenance and Integration in the Head Direction Cell System

“…HD cells were first electrophysiologically recorded in the rat postsubiculum (PoSC) (Ranck, 1984;Taube et al, 1990a), and then found in numerous other structures including the laterodorsal thalamic nucleus (Mizumori and Williams, 1993), the dorsal striatum (Wiener, 1993), the retrosplenial cortex (Chen et al, 1994), the anterodorsal thalamic nucleus (ADN) (Taube, 1995;Blair and Sharp, 1995), the lateral mammillary nucleus (LMN) (Stackman and Taube, 1998), and the dorsal tegmental nucleus (DTN) .…”