title: How to build a grid cell.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Wolfson Institute for Biomedical Research and Department of Neuroscience, Physiology and Pharmacology, University College London, , Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, UK.
authors.forename: Christoph
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Schmidt-Hieber
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Häusser
mesh_terms: D000200:Action Potentials / Q000502:physiology*; D000818:Animals; D018728:Entorhinal Cortex / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology*; D051379:Mice; D008959:Models, Neurological; D009474:Neurons / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology*; D018408:Patch-Clamp Techniques; D013037:Spatial Behavior / Q000502:physiology*
keywords: entorhinal cortex; grid cell; neural circuit; patch clamp; path integration; spatial navigation