Ventral midline thalamus is necessary for hippocampal place field stability and cell firing modulation
Résumé
The reuniens (Re) and rhomboid (Rh) nuclei of the ventral midline thalamus are reciprocally connected with the hippocampus (Hip) and
the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC). Growing evidence suggests that these nuclei might play a crucial role in cognitive processes
requiring Hip–mPFC interactions, including spatial navigation. Here, we tested the effect of ReRh lesions on the firing properties and
spatial activity of dorsal hippocampal CA1 place cells as male rats explored a familiar or a novel environment. We found no change in the
spatial characteristics of CA1 place cells in the familiar environment following ReRh lesions. Contrariwise, spatial coherence was decreased
during the first session in a novel environment. We then investigated field stability of place cells recorded across 5 d both in the
familiar and in a novel environment presented in a predefined sequence. While the remapping capacity of the place cells was not affected
by the lesion, our results clearly demonstrated a disruption of the CA1 cellular representation of both environments in ReRh rats. More
specifically, we found ReRh lesions to produce (1) a pronounced and long-lasting decrease of place field stability and (2) a strong
alteration of overdispersion (i.e., firing variability). Thus, in ReRh rats, exploration of a novel environment appears to interfere with the
representation of the familiar one, leading to decreased field stability in both environments. The present study shows the involvement of
ReRh nuclei in the long-term spatial stability of CA1 place fields.
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