Irregular distribution of grid cell firing fields in rats exploring a 3D volumetric space.

ABSTRACT: We investigated how entorhinal grid cells encode volumetric space. On a horizontal surface, grid cells usually produce multiple, spatially focal, approximately circular firing fields that are evenly sized and spaced to form a regular, close-packed, hexagonal array. This spatial regularity has been suggested to underlie navigational computations. In three dimensions, theoretically the equivalent firing pattern would be a regular, hexagonal close packing of evenly sized spherical fields. In the present study, we report that, in rats foraging in a cubic lattice, grid cells maintained normal temporal firing characteristics and produced spatially stable firing fields. However, although most grid fields were ellipsoid, they were sparser, larger, more variably sized and irregularly arranged, even

SUBMITTER: Grieves RM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8553607 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature