Pepe Alcami, Institute of Physiology, University of Freiburg | Beyond heterogeneity: Spatial structure in granule cell networks in the dentate gyrus

Abstract

The dentate gyrus is an input region of the hippocampus, a brain region involved in learning and memory. Only a small fraction of its principal cells, granule cells, is activated at a given time, a phenomenon known as sparse coding. The recruitment of granule cells remains mysterious: we still do not understand what makes specific granule cells fire action potentials. I will present data showing that granule cell activation follows a spatial structure along the radial axis, that is, from more superficial cells to deeper cells. I have explored the morphological and synaptic properties of granule cells along this axis which may underly their recruitment and which altogether suggest different coding strategies of granule cells along the radial axis.