Entorhinal cortex directs learning-related changes in CA1 representations

Abstract

Learning-related changes in brain activity are thought to underlie adaptive behaviors1,2. For instance, the learning of a reward site by rodents requires the development of an over-representation of that location in the hippocampus3-6. However, how this learning-related change occurs remains unknown. Here we recorded hippocampal CA1 population activity as mice learned a reward location on a linear treadmill. Physiological and pharmacological evidence suggests that the adaptive over-representation required behavioral timescale synaptic plasticity (BTSP)7. BTSP is known to be driven by dendritic voltage signals that we hypothesized were initiated by input from entorhinal cortex layer 3 (EC3). Accordingly, the CA1 over-representation was largely removed by optogenetic inhibition of EC3 activity. Recordings from EC3 neurons revealed an activity pattern that could provide an instructive signal directing BTSP to generate the over-representation. Consistent with this function, exposure to a second environment possessing a prominent reward-predictive cue resulted in both EC3 activity and CA1 place field density that were more elevated at the cue than the reward. These data indicate that learning-related changes in the hippocampus are produced by synaptic plasticity directed by an instructive signal from the EC3 that appears to be specifically adapted to the behaviorally relevant features of the environment.