Network and behavioral dynamics of sensory integration in the rodent hippocampal system

Seminar

  • Date: Oct 23, 2017
  • Time: 02:00 PM - 03:00 PM (Local Time Germany)
  • Speaker: Dr Anton Sirota
  • LMU and Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience Munich
  • Location: Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry
  • Room: Kraepelin Seminarroom
  • Host: Suellen Almeida Correa
  • Contact: suellen_almeida@psych.mpg.de
Network and behavioral dynamics of sensory integration in the rodent hippocampal system
What are the systems-level mechanisms allowing for formation of memories? The accepted broad mechanistic framework for this process isthat perceived information about the world is transferred from multimodal neocortical areas to the hippocampal region where it is actively encoded. Both transfer of information to and encoding in the hippocampus relies on active sampling of the external sensory inputs and internal network dynamics. However the quantitative link between diverse exploratory behaviour that rodents use to actively sample external sensory inputs during learning, oscillatory network dynamics that controls information flow and hippocampal population code for space and memory is not established.

We use marker-based high-resolution tracking of rat biological motion to quantitatively and objectively segment and classify its exploratory behaviour. We combine behaviour analysis with multichannel extracellular recording of populations of neurons and oscillatory dynamics in entorhino-hippocampal circuits. We further flexibly manipulate visual world around the rat using newly designed virtual reality system for freely-moving rodents. In the talk I will present our recent advances in these projects along several directions. First, I will show how high-resolution tracking gives rise to quantification of known behaviours and discovery of new behavioural motifs. Second, how population activity of hippocampal neurons is changing dynamically with changes of exploratory states. Third, I will illustrate some applications of the freely moving VR system illustrating the potential of the new method. Fourth, I give an overview of the oscillatory synchronization dynamics across entorhinal-hippocampal circuits. Taken together the constraints imposed by spontaneous exploratory behaviour and network dynamics on activity of hippocampal neurons give rise to a novel temporal framework for the analysis of the mechanisms of memory formation.

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