Recurrent Inhibitory Circuitry As a Mechanism for Grid Formation

Overview

Journal Nat Neurosci

Date 2013 Jan 22

PMID 23334580

Citations 202

Authors

Jonathan J Couey

Aree Witoelar

Sheng-Jia Zhang

Kang Zheng

Jing Ye

Benjamin Dunn

Rafal Czajkowski

May-Britt Moser

Edvard I Moser

Yasser Roudi

Menno P Witter

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Grid cells in layer II of the medial entorhinal cortex form a principal component of the mammalian neural representation of space. The firing pattern of a single grid cell has been hypothesized to be generated through attractor dynamics in a network with a specific local connectivity including both excitatory and inhibitory connections. However, experimental evidence supporting the presence of such connectivity among grid cells in layer II is limited. Here we report recordings from more than 600 neuron pairs in rat entorhinal slices, demonstrating that stellate cells, the principal cell type in the layer II grid network, are mainly interconnected via inhibitory interneurons. Using a model attractor network, we demonstrate that stable grid firing can emerge from a simple recurrent inhibitory network. Our findings thus suggest that the observed inhibitory microcircuitry between stellate cells is sufficient to generate grid-cell firing patterns in layer II of the medial entorhinal cortex.

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