Spatial representation in the entorhinal cortex

Science. 2004 Aug 27;305(5688):1258-64. doi: 10.1126/science.1099901.

Abstract

As the interface between hippocampus and neocortex, the entorhinal cortex is likely to play a pivotal role in memory. To determine how information is represented in this area, we measured spatial modulation of neural activity in layers of medial entorhinal cortex projecting to the hippocampus. Close to the postrhinal-entorhinal border, entorhinal neurons had stable and discrete multipeaked place fields, predicting the rat's location as accurately as place cells in the hippocampus. Precise positional modulation was not observed more ventromedially in the entorhinal cortex or upstream in the postrhinal cortex, suggesting that sensory input is transformed into durable allocentric spatial representations internally in the dorsocaudal medial entorhinal cortex.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Action Potentials
  • Animals
  • Brain Mapping
  • Electrodes, Implanted
  • Entorhinal Cortex / cytology
  • Entorhinal Cortex / physiology*
  • Hippocampus / physiology
  • Male
  • Memory*
  • Nerve Net / physiology*
  • Neurons / physiology*
  • Rats
  • Rats, Long-Evans
  • Space Perception*