Rats can track odors, other rats, and themselves: implications for the study of spatial behavior

Wallace, Douglas G.; Gorny, Bogdan; Whishaw, Ian Q.

doi:10.1016/s0166-4328(01)00384-9

Cited by 108 publications

(78 citation statements)

References 25 publications

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“…Similarly, we speculate that information about the right and left localization of odor sources detected by single-category E-I neurons in the AONpE may be transmitted to higher olfactory centers, in addition to the feedback connection to the contralateral OB. In agreement with this idea, behavioral studies have shown that rats can properly respond to odor localization cues (2,26). Single-cell labeling revealed that AONpE neurons send an axon collateral to AONpP (Fig.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 67%

Neurons in the anterior olfactory nucleus pars externa detect right or left localization of odor sources

Kikuta

Sato

Kashiwadani

et al. 2010

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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Rodents can localize odor sources by comparing odor inputs to the right and left nostrils. However, the neuronal circuits underlying such odor localization are not known. We recorded neurons in the anterior olfactory nucleus (AON) while administering odors to the ipsilateral or contralateral (ipsi-or contra-) nostril. Neurons in the AON pars externa (AONpE) showed respiration phase-locked excitatory spike responses to ipsinostril-only stimulation with a category of odorants, and inhibitory responses to contranostril-only stimulation with the same odorants. Simultaneous odor stimulation of the ipsi-and contranostrils elicited significantly smaller responses than ipsinostril-only stimulation, indicating that AONpE neurons subtract the contranostril odor inputs from ipsinostril odor inputs. An ipsilateral odor source induced larger responses than a centrally located source, whereas an odor source at the contralateral position elicited inhibitory responses. These results indicate that individual AONpE neurons can distinguish the right or left position of an odor source by referencing signals from the two nostrils.olfactory cortex | binasal inputs | odor localization

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 67%

Neurons in the anterior olfactory nucleus pars externa detect right or left localization of odor sources

Kikuta

Sato

Kashiwadani

et al. 2010

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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“…Although the experimenters varied the route by which the cup moved from the start location to the center from trial to trial, this procedure may have provided useful cues on the table surface. Rats are uncommonly good at tracking even subtle odors across the surface of an open field (31). With the uncertainty about the availability of odor trails in mind, we suggest that the study is not decisive in negating the hypothesis that the hippocampus is essential to complex path integration in the rat (but see note added in proof).…”

Section: Grid Cells and The Spatial Map In The Medial Entorhinal Cortexmentioning

confidence: 83%

Navigating from hippocampus to parietal cortex

Whitlock

Sutherland

Witter

et al. 2008

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

230

187

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The navigational system of the mammalian cortex comprises a number of interacting brain regions. Grid cells in the medial entorhinal cortex and place cells in the hippocampus are thought to participate in the formation of a dynamic representation of the animal's current location, and these cells are presumably critical for storing the representation in memory. To traverse the environment, animals must be able to translate coordinate information from spatial maps in the entorhinal cortex and hippocampus into bodycentered representations that can be used to direct locomotion. How this is done remains an enigma. We propose that the posterior parietal cortex is critical for this transformation.entorhinal cortex ͉ grid cell ͉ place cell ͉ Path integration ͉ spatial memory

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“…The appearance and texture of the arena were rotationally uniform, so it is unlikely that this rat was able to use visual or texture cues to maintain the alignment of its spatial map with the arena, but it might have been able to deposit and use local olfactory cues. In support of this possibility, there is evidence that rats can use local olfactory cues to guide navigation when visual information is absent (Lavenex and Schenk, 1998;Maaswinkel and Whishaw, 1999;Wallace et al, 2002), and rats are more impaired at navigating in the dark when local olfactory cues are shuffled than when they are stable (Stuchlik et al, 2001;Stuchlik and Bures, 2002); however, rats are more likely to use visual rather than olfactory information if both are available and the two sets of cues are in conflict (Lavenex and Schenk, 1995;Maaswinkel and Whishaw, 1999), as was the case for five of the six rats in the present study. In a follow-up experiment, the anomalous rat was found to align its spatial map with the arena in subsequent run periods when the arena had been rotated during sleep, but with the room when the arena had been rotated during active foraging.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Hippocampal Place Cells Are Not Controlled by Visual Input during the Small Irregular Activity State in the Rat

Jarosiewicz¹,

Skaggs²

2004

J. Neurosci.

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In the actively foraging rat, hippocampal pyramidal cells have strong spatial correlates. Each "place cell" fires rapidly only when the rat enters a particular delimited portion of its environment, called the "place field" of that cell. Hippocampal pyramidal cells also exhibit spatial selectivity during a physiological state that occurs during sleep, termed "small irregular activity" (SIA), because of the appearance of the hippocampal EEG. It is not known whether rats determine their current location in space during SIA using current visual information or whether they recall the location in which they fell asleep. To address this question, we recorded spikes from ensembles of CA1 pyramidal cells and hippocampal EEG while rats slept along the edge of a large circular recording arena with minimal local features in a room with prominent distal visual cues. To move the rats to a new location in the room while they were sleeping, we slowly rotated the recording arena on which they slept to a new orientation in the room. Hippocampal place cell activity in subsequent SIA episodes reflected the location in the room in which the rats fell asleep, rather than the location to which they were moved, although the alignment of the rats' spatial map was governed by the room cues in the subsequent active foraging session. Thus, the hippocampal population activity during SIA does not result from the processing of current visual information but instead probably reflects a memory for the location in which the rat fell asleep.

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Rats can track odors, other rats, and themselves: implications for the study of spatial behavior

Cited by 108 publications

References 25 publications

Neurons in the anterior olfactory nucleus pars externa detect right or left localization of odor sources

Neurons in the anterior olfactory nucleus pars externa detect right or left localization of odor sources

Navigating from hippocampus to parietal cortex

Hippocampal Place Cells Are Not Controlled by Visual Input during the Small Irregular Activity State in the Rat

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