Kinman Adrienne I, Merryweather Derek N, Erwin Sarah R, Campbell Regan E, Sullivan Kaitlin E, Kraus Larissa, Kapustina Margarita, Bristow Brianna N, Zhang Mingjia Y, Elder Madeline W, Wood Sydney C, Tarik Ali, Kim Esther, Tindall Joshua, Daniels William, Anwer Mehwish, Guo Caiying, Cembrowski Mark S
Dept. of Cellular and Physiological Sciences, Life Sciences Institute, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, V6T 1Z3, Canada.
Dept. of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, V6T 1Z7, Canada.
Nat Commun. 2025 Feb 12;16(1):1195. doi: 10.1038/s41467-025-56260-8.
Classically, pyramidal cells of the hippocampus are viewed as flexibly representing spatial and non-spatial information. Recent work has illustrated distinct types of hippocampal excitatory neurons, suggesting that hippocampal representations and functions may be constrained and interpreted by these underlying cell-type identities. In mice, here we reveal a non-pyramidal excitatory neuron type - the "ovoid" neuron - that is spatially adjacent to subiculum pyramidal cells but differs in gene expression, electrophysiology, morphology, and connectivity. Functionally, novel object encounters drive sustained ovoid neuron activity, whereas familiar objects fail to drive activity even months after single-trial learning. Silencing ovoid neurons prevents non-spatial object learning but leaves spatial learning intact, and activating ovoid neurons toggles novel-object seeking to familiar-object seeking. Such function is doubly dissociable from pyramidal neurons, wherein manipulation of pyramidal cells affects spatial assays but not non-spatial learning. Ovoid neurons of the subiculum thus illustrate selective cell-type-specific control of non-spatial memory and behavioral preference.
传统上，海马体的锥体细胞被视为灵活地代表空间和非空间信息。最近的研究表明，海马体存在不同类型的兴奋性神经元，这表明海马体的表征和功能可能受到这些潜在细胞类型身份的限制和解释。在小鼠中，我们在此揭示了一种非锥体兴奋性神经元类型——“卵形”神经元，它在空间上与下托锥体细胞相邻，但在基因表达、电生理、形态和连接性方面有所不同。在功能上，新奇物体的出现会驱动卵形神经元持续活动，而熟悉的物体即使在单次试验学习数月后也无法驱动其活动。沉默卵形神经元会阻止非空间物体学习，但不会影响空间学习，而激活卵形神经元会使对新奇物体的探索转变为对熟悉物体的探索。这种功能与锥体细胞具有双重分离性，其中对锥体细胞的操作会影响空间测试，但不会影响非空间学习。因此，下托的卵形神经元说明了非空间记忆和行为偏好的选择性细胞类型特异性控制。
