Choice of method of place cell classification determines the population of cells identified.

Place cells, spatially responsive hippocampal cells, provide the neural substrate supporting navigation and spatial memory. Historically most studies of these neurons have used electrophysiological recordings from implanted electrodes but optical methods, measuring intracellular calcium, are becomin...

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Main Authors: Dori M Grijseels, Kira Shaw, Caswell Barry, Catherine N Hall
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2021-07-01
Series:PLoS Computational Biology
Online Access:https://journals.plos.org/ploscompbiol/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pcbi.1008835&type=printable
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author Dori M Grijseels
Kira Shaw
Caswell Barry
Catherine N Hall
author_facet Dori M Grijseels
Kira Shaw
Caswell Barry
Catherine N Hall
author_sort Dori M Grijseels
collection DOAJ
description Place cells, spatially responsive hippocampal cells, provide the neural substrate supporting navigation and spatial memory. Historically most studies of these neurons have used electrophysiological recordings from implanted electrodes but optical methods, measuring intracellular calcium, are becoming increasingly common. Several methods have been proposed as a means to identify place cells based on their calcium activity but there is no common standard and it is unclear how reliable different approaches are. Here we tested four methods that have previously been applied to two-photon hippocampal imaging or electrophysiological data, using both model datasets and real imaging data. These methods use different parameters to identify place cells, including the peak activity in the place field, compared to other locations (the Peak method); the stability of cells' activity over repeated traversals of an environment (Stability method); a combination of these parameters with the size of the place field (Combination method); and the spatial information held by the cells (Information method). The methods performed differently from each other on both model and real data. In real datasets, vastly different numbers of place cells were identified using the four methods, with little overlap between the populations identified as place cells. Therefore, choice of place cell detection method dramatically affects the number and properties of identified cells. Ultimately, we recommend the Peak method be used in future studies to identify place cell populations, as this method is robust to moderate variations in place field within a session, and makes no inherent assumptions about the spatial information in place fields, unless there is an explicit theoretical reason for detecting cells with more narrowly defined properties.
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spelling doaj-art-3aa950f065494a04bb3272874ee235dd2025-08-20T02:23:18ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS Computational Biology1553-734X1553-73582021-07-01177e100883510.1371/journal.pcbi.1008835Choice of method of place cell classification determines the population of cells identified.Dori M GrijseelsKira ShawCaswell BarryCatherine N HallPlace cells, spatially responsive hippocampal cells, provide the neural substrate supporting navigation and spatial memory. Historically most studies of these neurons have used electrophysiological recordings from implanted electrodes but optical methods, measuring intracellular calcium, are becoming increasingly common. Several methods have been proposed as a means to identify place cells based on their calcium activity but there is no common standard and it is unclear how reliable different approaches are. Here we tested four methods that have previously been applied to two-photon hippocampal imaging or electrophysiological data, using both model datasets and real imaging data. These methods use different parameters to identify place cells, including the peak activity in the place field, compared to other locations (the Peak method); the stability of cells' activity over repeated traversals of an environment (Stability method); a combination of these parameters with the size of the place field (Combination method); and the spatial information held by the cells (Information method). The methods performed differently from each other on both model and real data. In real datasets, vastly different numbers of place cells were identified using the four methods, with little overlap between the populations identified as place cells. Therefore, choice of place cell detection method dramatically affects the number and properties of identified cells. Ultimately, we recommend the Peak method be used in future studies to identify place cell populations, as this method is robust to moderate variations in place field within a session, and makes no inherent assumptions about the spatial information in place fields, unless there is an explicit theoretical reason for detecting cells with more narrowly defined properties.https://journals.plos.org/ploscompbiol/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pcbi.1008835&type=printable
spellingShingle Dori M Grijseels
Kira Shaw
Caswell Barry
Catherine N Hall
Choice of method of place cell classification determines the population of cells identified.
PLoS Computational Biology
title Choice of method of place cell classification determines the population of cells identified.
title_full Choice of method of place cell classification determines the population of cells identified.
title_fullStr Choice of method of place cell classification determines the population of cells identified.
title_full_unstemmed Choice of method of place cell classification determines the population of cells identified.
title_short Choice of method of place cell classification determines the population of cells identified.
title_sort choice of method of place cell classification determines the population of cells identified
url https://journals.plos.org/ploscompbiol/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pcbi.1008835&type=printable
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AT catherinenhall choiceofmethodofplacecellclassificationdeterminesthepopulationofcellsidentified