title: Grids from bands, or bands from grids? An examination of the effects of single unit contamination on grid cell firing fields.
abstract: Neural recording technology is improving rapidly, allowing for the detection of spikes from hundreds of cells simultaneously. The limiting step in multielectrode electrophysiology continues to be single cell isolation. However, this step is crucial to the interpretation of data from putative single neurons. We present here, in simulation, an illustration of possibly erroneous conclusions that may be reached when poorly isolated single cell data are analyzed. Grid cells are neurons recorded in rodents, and bats, that spike in equally spaced locations in a hexagonal pattern. One theory states that grid firing patterns arise from a combination of band firing patterns. However, we show here that summing the grid firing patterns of two poorly resolved neurons can result in spurious band-like patterns. Thus, evidence of neurons spiking in band patterns must undergo extreme scrutiny before it is accepted. Toward this aim, we discuss single cell isolation methods and metrics.
authors.affiliation: Neuroelectronics Research Flanders, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium; Department of Neuroscience, Canadian Center for Behavioral Neuroscience, The University of Lethbridge, Lethbridge, Canada; and.
authors.forename: Z
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Navratilova
authors.affiliation: Neuroelectronics Research Flanders, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium;
authors.forename: K B
authors.initials: KB
authors.lastname: Godfrey
authors.affiliation: Department of Neuroscience, Canadian Center for Behavioral Neuroscience, The University of Lethbridge, Lethbridge, Canada; and Center for the Neurobiology of Learning and Memory, University of California at Irvine, Irvine, California bruce.mcnaughton@uleth.ca.
authors.forename: B L
authors.initials: BL
authors.lastname: McNaughton
mesh_terms: D000200:Action Potentials; D000465:Algorithms; D000818:Animals; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology; D009474:Neurons / Q000502:physiology*; D018408:Patch-Clamp Techniques / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards; D051381:Rats
keywords: grid cells; medial entorhinal cortex; spike sorting