美国哥伦比亚大学D. Aronov研究团队揭示食物贮藏鸟类海马体空间的神经表征。2021年7月16日出版的《科学》杂志发表了这项成果。

他们想知道即使在对空间记忆具有强烈依赖性的远距离脊椎动物之间，海马活动是否也存在根本差异。他们研究了簇状山雀，这是一种能够记住许多隐藏食物位置的食物贮藏鸟类。他们在山雀海马体中发现了类似哺乳动物的神经活动，包括锐波涟漪和解剖学组织的位置细胞。在非食物贮藏鸟类中，空间放电提供的信息较少，并且展现出较少的神经元。这些发现表明，鸟类和哺乳动物之间的海马回路机制相似，但由此产生的活动模式可能会随物种特定的行为学需求而在数量上有所不同。

据悉，脊椎动物的空间记忆需要与哺乳动物的海马体相似的大脑区域。然而，在脊椎动物之间，这些区域在解剖学上是不同的，似乎产生不同的神经活动空间模式。

附：英文原文

Title: Neural representations of space in the hippocampus of a food-caching bird

Author: H. L. Payne, G. F. Lynch, D. Aronov

Issue&Volume: 2021/07/16

Abstract: Spatial memory in vertebrates requires brain regions homologous to the mammalian hippocampus. Between vertebrate clades, however, these regions are anatomically distinct and appear to produce different spatial patterns of neural activity. We asked whether hippocampal activity is fundamentally different even between distant vertebrates that share a strong dependence on spatial memory. We studied tufted titmice, food-caching birds capable of remembering many concealed food locations. We found mammalian-like neural activity in the titmouse hippocampus, including sharp-wave ripples and anatomically organized place cells. In a non–food-caching bird species, spatial firing was less informative and was exhibited by fewer neurons. These findings suggest that hippocampal circuit mechanisms are similar between birds and mammals, but that the resulting patterns of activity may vary quantitatively with species-specific ethological needs.

DOI: 10.1126/science.abg2009

Source: https://science.sciencemag.org/content/373/6552/343