美国纽约大学György Buzsáki研究小组发现，海马神经元活动与行动计划对齐。相关论文于2025年1月8日在线发表在《自然》杂志上。

为了解开外部驱动线索与内部计算的贡献，研究人员在小鼠身上设计了一个任务，其中空间、听觉音调、奖励和情境在不断变化的相关性中交替呈现。高密度电生理记录显示，神经元对这些模式中的每一种都有调节反应。通过比较运动路径和动作序列，研究人员观察到外部变量对海马神经元放电的直接影响有限。

相反，放电受在线行动计划的影响，并且受到目标不确定性的调节。这些结果表明，内部生成的细胞群序列是通过行动计划朝着有意的目标进行选择和更新的。海马神经元放电对不同感官模式的调节似乎是由于与任务中行动进程的对齐，而非对外部线索的表征。

研究人员表示，海马中的神经元与多种变量相关，包括空间、时间、感官线索、奖励和动作，其中调节的程度取决于当前任务的需求。然而，目前尚不清楚这种多样的调节是否对应于海马网络中的不同功能，还是是否可以通过更通用的计算来解释这些观察结果。

附：英文原文

Title: Hippocampal neuronal activity is aligned with action plans

Author: Zutshi, Ipshita, Apostolelli, Athina, Yang, Wannan, Zheng, Zheyang Sam, Dohi, Tora, Balzani, Edoardo, Williams, Alex H., Savin, Cristina, Buzski, Gyrgy

Issue&Volume: 2025-01-08

Abstract: Neurons in the hippocampus are correlated with different variables, including space, time, sensory cues, rewards and actions, in which the extent of tuning depends on ongoing task demands1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8. However, it remains uncertain whether such diverse tuning corresponds to distinct functions within the hippocampal network or whether a more generic computation can account for these observations9. Here, to disentangle the contribution of externally driven cues versus internal computation, we developed a task in mice in which space, auditory tones, rewards and context were juxtaposed with changing relevance. High-density electrophysiological recordings revealed that neurons were tuned to each of these modalities. By comparing movement paths and action sequences, we observed that external variables had limited direct influence on hippocampal firing. Instead, spiking was influenced by online action plans and modulated by goal uncertainty. Our results suggest that internally generated cell assembly sequences are selected and updated by action plans towards deliberate goals. The apparent tuning of hippocampal neuronal spiking to different sensory modalities might emerge due to alignment to the afforded action progression within a task rather than representation of external cues.

DOI: 10.1038/s41586-024-08397-7

Source: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-024-08397-7