Spatially selective firing in the forms of place cells, grid cells, boundary vector/border cells and head direction cells are the basic building blocks of a canonical spatial navigation system centered on the hippocampal-entorhinal complex. While head direction cells can be found throughout the brain, spatial tuning outside the hippocampal formation are often non-specific or conjunctive to other representations such as a reward. Although the precise mechanism of spatially selective activities is not understood, various studies show sensory inputs (particularly vision) heavily modulate spatial representation in the hippocampal-entorhinal circuit. To better understand the contribution from other sensory inputs in shaping spatial representation in the brain, we recorded from the primary somatosensory cortex in foraging rats. To our surprise, we were able to identify the full complement of spatial activity patterns reported in the hippocampal-entorhinal network, namely, place cells, head direction cells, boundary vector/border cells, grid cells and conjunctive cells. These newly identified somatosensory spatial cell types form a spatial map outside the hippocampal formation and support the hypothesis that location information is necessary for body representation in the somatosensory cortex, and may be analogous to spatially tuned representations in the motor cortex relating to the movement of body parts. Our findings are transformative in our understanding of how spatial information is used and utilized in the brain, as well as functional operations of the somatosensory cortex in the context of rehabilitation with brain-machine interfaces.

中文翻译：

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海马结构外部的新型体感空间导航系统

以位置单元格，网格单元格，边界矢量/边界单元格和头部方向单元格的形式进行的空间选择性射击是以海马-肠胃复合体为中心的典型空间导航系统的基本组成部分。尽管可以在整个大脑中找到头部方向细胞，但海马结构外部的空间调节通常与其他表示形式（例如奖励）无关或不相关。尽管尚不清楚空间选择性活动的确切机制，但各种研究表明，感觉输入（尤其是视觉）会严重调节海马-肠胃回路中的空间表示。为了更好地理解其他感觉输入对塑造大脑空间表示的贡献，我们从觅食大鼠的主要体感皮层中记录了下来。令我们惊讶的是 我们能够确定在海马-肠神经网络中报告的空间活动模式的完整补充，即位置细胞，头部方向细胞，边界矢量/边界细胞，网格细胞和结膜细胞。这些新近确定的体感空间细胞类型在海马结构外部形成空间图，并支持以下假设：位置信息对于体感皮层中的身体表示是必需的，并且可能类似于运动皮层中与身体运动有关的空间调整表示。部分。我们的发现对我们了解如何在大脑中使用和利用空间信息以及在使用脑机接口进行康复的情况下体感皮层的功能性操作具有革命性意义。