Editing Place cell (section)

{{Short description|Place-activated hippocampus cells found in some mammals}}
{{good article}}
[[Image:Place Cell Spiking Activity Example.png|thumb|300px|right|Spatial firing patterns of eight place cells recorded from the [[Region I of hippocampus proper|CA1]] layer of a rat. The rat ran back and forth along an elevated track, stopping at each end to eat a small food reward. Dots indicate positions where action potentials were recorded, with color indicating which neuron emitted that action potential.]]

A '''place cell''' is a kind of [[pyramidal cell|pyramidal neuron]] in the [[hippocampus]] that becomes active when an animal enters a particular place in its environment, which is known as the [[Place cell#Place fields|place field]]. Place cells are thought to act collectively as a cognitive representation of a specific location in space, known as a [[cognitive map]].<ref>{{cite book| last=O'Keefe|first=John|title=The Hippocampus as a Cognitive Map|year=1978|publisher=Clarendon Press |isbn=978-0198572060}}</ref> Place cells work with other types of neurons in the hippocampus and surrounding regions to perform this kind of spatial processing.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Muir|first=Gary|author2=David K. Bilkey |title=Instability in the Place Field Location of Hippocampal Place Cells after Lesions Centered on the Perirhinal Cortex|journal=The Journal of Neuroscience|date=1 June 2001|volume=21|issue=11|pages=4016–4025|url= |pmid=11356888|pmc=6762702|doi=10.1523/JNEUROSCI.21-11-04016.2001}}</ref> They have been found in a variety of animals, including rodents, bats, monkeys and humans.

Place-cell firing patterns are often determined by stimuli in the environment such as visual landmarks, and olfactory and vestibular stimuli. Place cells have the ability to suddenly change their firing pattern from one pattern to another, a phenomenon known as remapping.<ref name="Jeffery 775–785">{{cite journal|last=Jeffery|first=Kathryn|year=2007|title=Integration of Sensory Inputs to Place Cells: what, where, why, and how?|journal=Hippocampus|volume=17|issue=9|pages=775–785|doi=10.1002/hipo.20322|pmid=17615579|s2cid=3141473|id={{ProQuest|621877128}}}}</ref> This remapping may occur in either some of the place cells or in all place cells at once. It may be caused by a number of changes, such as in the odor of the environment.

Place cells are thought to play an important role in [[episodic memory]]. They contain information about the spatial context a memory took place in. And they seem to perform consolidation by exhibiting [[Hippocampal replay|replay]] – the reactivation of the place cells involved in a certain experience at a much faster timescale. Place cells show alterations with age and disease, such as Alzheimer's disease, which may be involved in a decrease of memory function.

The 2014 [[Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine]] was awarded to [[John O'Keefe (neuroscientist)|John O'Keefe]] for the discovery of place cells, and to [[Edvard Moser|Edvard]] and [[May-Britt Moser]] for the discovery of [[grid cell]]s.<ref>{{cite web| url=https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/2014/ |title=The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2014 |work=Nobelprize.org |access-date=2014-10-06}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.nobelprizemedicine.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Scintific-background_2014.pdf|title=Scientific Background: The Brain's Navigational Place and Grid Cell System|first1=Ole|last1=Kiehn|first2=Hans|last2=Forssberg|publisher=Karolinska Institute|date=2014|access-date=September 7, 2018}}</ref>