The cerebellum is far more intensively involved in helping us navigate than previously thought. To move and learn effectively in spatial environments our brain, and particularly our hippocampus, creates a "cognitive" map of the environment. The cerebellum contributes to the creation of this map through altering the chemical communication between its neurones.
If this ability is inactivated, the brain is no longer able to to create an effective spatial representation and thus navigation in an environment becomes impaired. The details of these observations were recently published in "Science" by the Ruhr University neuroscientist, Marion André who is a student of the International Graduate School of Neuroscience( IGSN), along with her colleagues in France.
A cognitive map in the hippocampus
In order to navigate efficiently in an environment, we need to create and maintain a reliable internal representation of the external world. A key region enabling such representation is the hippocampus which contains specialized pyramidal neurons named place cells. Each place cell is activated at specific location of the environment and gives dynamic information about self-location relative to the external world. These neurons thus generate a cognitive map in the hippocampal system through the integration of multi sensory inputs combining external information (such as visual, auditory, olfactory and tactile cues) and inputs generated by self-motion (i.e. optic flow, proprioceptive and vestibular information).
Decisive: synaptic plasticity
Our ability to navigate also relies on the potential to use this cognitive map to form an optimal trajectory toward a goal. The cerebellum, a foliate region based at the back of the brain, has been recently shown to participate in the formation of the optimal trajectory. This structure contains neurons that are able to increase or decrease their chemical communication, a mechanism called synaptic plasticity. A decrease in the synaptic transmission of the cerebellar neurons, named long-term depression (LTD) participates in the optimization of the path toward a goal.
No orientation without LTD
Using transgenic mice that had a mutation impairing exclusively LTD of the cerebellar neurons, the neuroscientists were able to show that the cerebellum participates also in the formation of the hippocampal cognitive map. Indeed mice lacking this form of cerebellar plasticity were unable to build a reliable cognitive representation of the environment when they had to use self-motion information. Consequently, they were unable to navigate efficiently towards a goal in the absence of external information (for instance in the dark). This work highlights for the first time an unsuspected function of the cerebellum in shaping the representation of our body in space.
Bibliographic record
Christelle Rochefort, Arnaud Arabo, Marion André, Bruno Poucet, Etienne Save, and Laure Rondi-Reig: Cerebellum Shapes Hippocampal Spatial Code. Science, 21 October 2011: 385-389. DOI:10.1126/science.1207403Internet: http://www.sciencemag.org/content/334/6054/385.full?sid=4b397dcb-4e01-4fbb-9168-...
Further Information
Dr. Marion André, Abteilung für Neurophysiologie, Medizinsche Fakultät der RUB und International Graduate School of Neuroscience (IGSN) der RUB, Tel. +49 234 32 22042Prof. Dr. Denise Manahan-Vaughan, Leiterin des Lehrstuhls für Neurophysiologie und Direktorin/Studiendekanin der IGSN, Tel. +49 234 32 22042, denise.manahan-vaughan@rub.de
Editor: Jens Wylkop
Dr. Josef König | idw
Further information:
http://www.ruhr-uni-bochum.de/igsn/index.shtml
Further reports about: > Neurophysiologie > Neuroscience > chemical communication > cognitive map > synaptic plasticity
Discovery of genes involved in the biosynthesis of antidepressant
09.12.2019 | Leibniz Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research
Scientists have spotted new compounds with herbicidal potential from sea fungus
09.12.2019 | Far Eastern Federal University
Using a clever technique that causes unruly crystals of iron selenide to snap into alignment, Rice University physicists have drawn a detailed map that reveals...
University of Texas and MIT researchers create virtual UAVs that can predict vehicle health, enable autonomous decision-making
In the not too distant future, we can expect to see our skies filled with unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) delivering packages, maybe even people, from location...
With ultracold chemistry, researchers get a first look at exactly what happens during a chemical reaction
The coldest chemical reaction in the known universe took place in what appears to be a chaotic mess of lasers. The appearance deceives: Deep within that...
Abnormal scarring is a serious threat resulting in non-healing chronic wounds or fibrosis. Scars form when fibroblasts, a type of cell of connective tissue, reach wounded skin and deposit plugs of extracellular matrix. Until today, the question about the exact anatomical origin of these fibroblasts has not been answered. In order to find potential ways of influencing the scarring process, the team of Dr. Yuval Rinkevich, Group Leader for Regenerative Biology at the Institute of Lung Biology and Disease at Helmholtz Zentrum München, aimed to finally find an answer. As it was already known that all scars derive from a fibroblast lineage expressing the Engrailed-1 gene - a lineage not only present in skin, but also in fascia - the researchers intentionally tried to understand whether or not fascia might be the origin of fibroblasts.
Fibroblasts kit - ready to heal wounds
Research from a leading international expert on the health of the Great Lakes suggests that the growing intensity and scale of pollution from plastics poses serious risks to human health and will continue to have profound consequences on the ecosystem.
In an article published this month in the Journal of Waste Resources and Recycling, Gail Krantzberg, a professor in the Booth School of Engineering Practice...
Anzeige
Anzeige
03.12.2019 | Event News
First International Conference on Agrophotovoltaics in August 2020
15.11.2019 | Event News
Laser Symposium on Electromobility in Aachen: trends for the mobility revolution
15.11.2019 | Event News
The Arctic atmosphere - a gathering place for dust?
09.12.2019 | Earth Sciences
New ultra-miniaturized scope less invasive, produces higher quality images
09.12.2019 | Information Technology
Discovery of genes involved in the biosynthesis of antidepressant
09.12.2019 | Life Sciences