Referenced in: none

Automatically associated channels: HCN1

Title: Hyperpolarization-activated cyclic nucleotide-gated 1 independent grid cell-phase precession in mice.

Authors: Hannah Eggink, Paul Mertens, Eline Storm, Lisa M Giocomo

Journal, date & volume: Hippocampus, 2014 Mar , 24, 249-56

PubMed link: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24638961

Abstract
Cell assemblies code information in both the temporal and spatial domain. One tractable example of temporal coding is the phenomenon of phase precession. In medial entorhinal cortex, theta-phase precession is observed in spatially specific grid cells, with grid spike-times shifting to earlier phases of the extracellular theta rhythm as the animal passes through the grid field. Although the exact mechanisms underlying spatial-temporal coding remain unknown, computational work points to single-cell oscillatory activity as a biophysical mechanism capable of producing phase precession. Support for this idea comes from observed correlations between single-cell resonance and entorhinal neurons characterized by phase precession. Here, we take advantage of the absence of single-cell theta-frequency resonance in hyperpolarization-activated cyclic nucleotide-gated (HCN) 1 knockout (KO) mice to examine the relationship between intrinsic rhythmicity and phase precession. We find phase precession is highly comparable between forebrain-restricted HCN1 KO and wild-type mice. Grid fields in HCN1 KO mice display more experience-dependent asymmetry however, consistent with reports of enhanced long-term potentiation in the absence of HCN1 and raising the possibility that the loss of HCN1 improves temporal coding via the rate-phase transformation. Combined, our results clarify the role of HCN1 channels in temporal coding and constrain the number of possible mechanisms generating phase precession. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.