To make this discovery the researchers created a rat sized car that allows for monitoring neural activity while the rat uses its feet and legs to move about. The team describes it as similar to Fred Flintstone's car, of comic fame.
Twenty six rats had probes placed into their brains before being put in the ratmobile. The probes (which were so sensitive they could capture single nerve activity) were inserted in a part of the brain known as the entorhinal cortex—the same general area where grid cells had been identified previously. The rats were then incited to move at different rates of speed as the team members watched. They found that a group of neurons fired in step with the speed at which the rat was moving.
The team conducted over 2,000 rat-moving sessions while studying a group of 2,497 cells, 15 percent of which turned out to be those they were looking for—the ones that would fire in ways that mimicked the speed at which the rats traveled. So clear was the response, the team reports, that they were able to accurately predict how fast a rat was moving by watching how fast its neurons were firing.
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nature14622.html
Edited
Latest News
Functional heterogeneity of…
By newseditor
Posted 13 May
Gut bacteria produced compo…
By newseditor
Posted 13 May
Role of ECM in brain memory
By newseditor
Posted 13 May
All individuals with two co…
By newseditor
Posted 12 May
Autoantibody patterns in pa…
By newseditor
Posted 12 May
Other Top Stories
Western diet damages immune cells in digestive tracts
Read more
Sex as an important factor in nanomedicine
Read more
Pathogenic mechanism to counteract host defense
Read more
Mild COVID-19 induces lasting antibody protection
Read more
Collectivism predicts mask use during COVID-19
Read more
Protocols
Mime-seq 2.0: a method to s…
By newseditor
Posted 13 May
Improved detection of DNA r…
By newseditor
Posted 09 May
Single-cell adhesive profil…
By newseditor
Posted 07 May
Parasympathetic neurons der…
By newseditor
Posted 07 May
Non-invasive measurements o…
By newseditor
Posted 05 May
Publications
Pharmacological induction o…
By newseditor
Posted 13 May
The Effect of Glycine and N…
By newseditor
Posted 13 May
Diindoles produced from com…
By newseditor
Posted 13 May
Endothelial cell expression…
By newseditor
Posted 13 May
Senescence: A DNA damage re…
By newseditor
Posted 13 May
Presentations
Hydrogels in Drug Delivery
By newseditor
Posted 12 Apr
Lipids
By newseditor
Posted 31 Dec
Cell biology of carbohydrat…
By newseditor
Posted 29 Nov
RNA interference (RNAi)
By newseditor
Posted 23 Oct
RNA structure and functions
By newseditor
Posted 19 Oct
Posters
A chemical biology/modular…
By newseditor
Posted 22 Aug
Single-molecule covalent ma…
By newseditor
Posted 04 Jul
ASCO-2020-HEALTH SERVICES R…
By newseditor
Posted 23 Mar
ASCO-2020-HEAD AND NECK CANCER
By newseditor
Posted 23 Mar
ASCO-2020-GENITOURINARY CAN…
By newseditor
Posted 23 Mar