How to build a grid cell.
Neurons in the medial entorhinal cortex fire action potentials at regular spatial intervals, creating a striking grid-like pattern of spike rates spanning the whole environment of a navigating animal. This remarkable spatial code may represent a neural map for path integration. Recent advances using patch-clamp recordings from entorhinal cortex neurons in vitro and in vivo have revealed how the microcircuitry in the medial entorhinal cortex may contribute to grid cell firing patterns, and how grid cells may transform synaptic inputs into spike output during firing field crossings. These new findings provide key insights into the ingredients necessary to build a grid cell.
['Schmidt-Hieber|Christoph|C|', 'Häusser|Michael|M|']
D000200:Action Potentials D000818:Animals D018728:Entorhinal Cortex D051379:Mice D008959:Models, Neurological D009474:Neurons D018408:Patch-Clamp Techniques D013037:Spatial Behavior
grid cell entorhinal cortex path integration neural circuit patch clamp spatial navigation