Updating head direction in a 3D world

啮齿动物大脑中的头部方向（HD）细胞对动物的面向方向（“方位”）进行编码，并提供导航和记忆所需的方向感。细胞对水平头部旋转（“偏航”）做出反应，但当动物在三维空间中移动时，非偏航旋转也会改变方位，这可能会引入误差。该项目将研究高清细胞是否可以适应这些旋转，如果是，如何通过记录小鼠探索复杂的3D空间的高清细胞。利用转基因突变体，我们将验证前庭小脑处理非偏航旋转的假设，这可以防止错误积累。

Head direction (HD) cells in the rodent brain encode the animal's facing direction ("azimuth") and subserve the sense of direction, needed for navigation and memory. The cells respond to horizontal head rotations ("yaw") but when the animal moves in three dimensions, non-yaw rotations also change the azimuth, which could introduce errors. This project will investigate whether HD cells can accommodate these rotations, and if so, how, by recording HD cells from mice exploring complex 3D space. Using transgenic mutants we will test the hypothesis that non-yaw rotations are processed by the vestibulocerebellum, which prevents error accumulation.