Image: Schematic representation of a mouse trajectory (in grey) and the action potentials of an hippocampal place cell (in orange).

 

PROJECT: In the CA1 region of the hippocampus, neurons known as "place cells", replay previous waking activity patterns during non-REM sleep. These reactivations are coordinated by synchronous network events, conserved throughout the mammalian kingdom, called sharp wave ripple oscillations (SPW-Rs). Hippocampal SPW-Rs play a key role in memory consolidation: they are positively correlated with memory performance, and their suppression results in spatial memory deficits. One hypothesis is that they drive a brain-wide mechanism by which distributed neuronal circuits replay activity patterns related to earlier awake experience. In this project we aim to investigate how hippocampal circuits engage with the rest of the brain - and in particular with sensory areas - to promote spatial memory.