Stellate cells drive maturation of the entorhinal-hippocampal circuit.
The neural representation of space relies on a network of entorhinal-hippocampal cell types with firing patterns tuned to different abstract features of the environment. To determine how this network is set up during early postnatal development, we monitored markers of structural maturation in developing mice, both in naïve animals and after temporally restricted pharmacogenetic silencing of specific cell populations. We found that entorhinal stellate cells provide an activity-dependent instructive signal that drives maturation sequentially and unidirectionally through the intrinsic circuits of the entorhinal-hippocampal network. The findings raise the possibility that a small number of autonomously developing neuronal populations operate as intrinsic drivers of maturation across widespread regions of the cortex.
Kavli Institute for Systems Neuroscience and Centre for Neural Computation, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Olav Kyrres gate 9, Norwegian Brain Centre, 7491 Trondheim, Norway. flavio.donato@ntnu.no edvard.moser@ntnu.no.
Flavio
0000-0002-0732-1654
F
Donato
Kavli Institute for Systems Neuroscience and Centre for Neural Computation, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Olav Kyrres gate 9, Norwegian Brain Centre, 7491 Trondheim, Norway.
R Irene
RI
Jacobsen
Kavli Institute for Systems Neuroscience and Centre for Neural Computation, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Olav Kyrres gate 9, Norwegian Brain Centre, 7491 Trondheim, Norway.
May-Britt
0000-0001-7884-3049
MB
Moser
Kavli Institute for Systems Neuroscience and Centre for Neural Computation, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Olav Kyrres gate 9, Norwegian Brain Centre, 7491 Trondheim, Norway. flavio.donato@ntnu.no edvard.moser@ntnu.no.
Edvard I
0000-0003-0226-5566
EI
Moser
D000818:Animals; D018728:Entorhinal Cortex / Q000166:cytology* / Q000254:growth & development*; D005260:Female; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000166:cytology* / Q000254:growth & development*; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D009434:Neural Pathways; D055495:Neurogenesis; D017966:Pyramidal Cells / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology