Nucleus reuniens of the thalamus contains head direction cells | eLife.
Maciej M Jankowski, Md Nurul Islam, Nicholas F Wright, Seralynne D Vann, Jonathan T Erichsen, John P Aggleton, Shane M O’Mara
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.03075
Cite as eLife 2014;10.7554/eLife.03075
Abstract
Discrete populations of brain cells signal heading direction, rather like a compass. These ‘head direction’ cells are largely confined to a closely-connected network of sites. We describe, for the first time, a population of head direction cells in nucleus reuniens of the thalamus in the freely-moving rat. This novel subcortical head direction signal potentially modulates the hippocampal CA fields directly and, thus, informs spatial processing and memory.
– See more at: http://elifesciences.org/content/early/2014/07/14/eLife.03075#sthash.V4MrnXxO.dpuf
