in vivo recordings
neurophilosophy | October 18, 2009
USING an inventive new method in which mice run through a virtual reality environment based on the video game Quake, researchers from Princeton University have made the first direct measurements of the cellular activity associated with spatial navigation. The method will allow for investigations of the neural circuitry underlying navigation, and should lead to a better understanding of how spatial information is encoded at the cellular level.
In mice, spatial navigation involves at least four different cell types located in the hippocampus and surrounding regions. Place cells increase…