title: The retrosplenial cortex is necessary for path integration in the dark.
abstract: An increasing amount of data indicates that the retrosplenial cortex (RSC) plays a role in navigation and spatial memory. Moreover, it has been suggested that the RSC integrates mnemonic spatial features of the environment with self-motion information therefore enabling accurate path integration in darkness. This hypothesis rests on data obtained from animals trained in spatial memory tasks involving the conjoint use of allothetic and idiothetic information [8]. We examined the contribution of the RSC when animals are submitted to a path integration task with minimal memory requirement in light and dark. We found that RSC-lesioned rats exhibited a path integration deficit in the dark but not in the light. This suggests that the RSC is important for path integration and incorporates visuospatial information to maintain path integration accuracy.
authors.affiliation: Aix Marseille Université, CNRS, LNC UMR 72 91, Federation 3C FR 3512, 13331, Marseille, France.
authors.forename: Coralie
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Elduayen
authors.affiliation: Aix Marseille Université, CNRS, LNC UMR 72 91, Federation 3C FR 3512, 13331, Marseille, France. Electronic address: etienne.save@univ-amu.fr.
authors.forename: Etienne
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Save
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000502:physiology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D003624:Darkness; D008027:Light; D008297:Male; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D020318:Rats, Long-Evans; D013028:Space Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D013037:Spatial Behavior / Q000502:physiology; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology*
keywords: Path integration; Rat; Retrosplenial cortex