Comparison of Ventral Subicular and Hippocampal Neuron Spatial Firing Patterns in Complex and Simplified Environments

• Published in: Behavioral neuroscience Vol. 112; no. 3; pp. 707 - 713
• Main Authors: Phillips, Russell G, Eichenbaum, Howard
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Washington, DC American Psychological Association 01-06-1998
• Subjects: Analysis of Variance; Animal; Animal behavior; Animals; Behavioral psychophysiology; Biological and medical sciences; Brain; Cells (Biology); Cues; Electrical Activity; Electrophysiology; Environment; Evoked Potentials - physiology; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Hippocampus; Hippocampus - physiology; Male; Maze Learning - physiology; Neural Analyzers - physiology; Neural Pathways - physiology; Neurology; Neurons; Orientation - physiology; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychophysiology; Rats; Rats, Inbred Strains; Rodents; Space life sciences; Space Perception - physiology; Spatial Learning; Rat; Exploratory behavior; Rodentia; Central nervous system; Discharge pattern; Electrophysiology; Male; Cognition; Physical environment; Vertebrata; Mammalia; Coding; Animal; Information processing; Hippocampus; Spatial representation; Brain (vertebrata)
• ISSN: 0735-7044; 1939-0084
• DOI: 10.1037/0735-7044.112.3.707

Activity from ventral subicular and hippocampal CA1 neurons was recorded in rats exploring a 4-arm radial maze in which the local and distal cues could be manipulated. Cells from both regions exhibited place fields, although ventral subicular neurons had larger fields than hippocampal cells. Rotation of the local and distal cues in opposite directions produced movement of the place fields in either direction or a complete change in firing pattern. Simplifying the environment also produced changes in place field location. Despite similarities between regions, subiculum fields decreased in size whereas hippocampal fields increased in the simple environment. These findings suggest that subicular cells may receive converging input from several hippocampal neurons and code more complex configurations of the cues.