DOI: 10.5061/dryad.66t1g1k9r
title: Synaptic basis of feature selectivity in hippocampal neurons

description: A central question in neuroscience is how synaptic plasticity shapes the
 feature selectivity of neurons in behaving animals. Hippocampal CA1
 pyramidal neurons display one of the most striking forms of feature
 selectivity by forming spatially and contextually selective receptive
 fields called place fields, which serve as a model for studying the
 synaptic basis of learning and memory. Various forms of synaptic
 plasticity have been proposed as cellular substrates for the emergence of
 place fields. However, despite decades of work, our understanding of how
 synaptic plasticity underlies place field formation and memory encoding
 remains limited, largely due to a shortage of tools and technical
 challenges associated with the visualization of synaptic plasticity at
 single-neuron resolution in awake-behaving animals. To address this, we
 developed an all-optical approach to monitor the spatiotemporal tuning and
 synaptic weight changes of dendritic spines, before and after the
 induction of a place field in single CA1 pyramidal neurons during spatial
 navigation. We identified a temporally asymmetric synaptic plasticity
 kernel resulting from bidirectional modifications of synaptic weights
 around the induction of a place field. Surprisingly, our work uncovered
 compartment-specific differences in the magnitude and temporal expression
 of synaptic plasticity between basal and oblique dendrites. Our results
 provide the first experimental evidence linking synaptic plasticity to the
 rapid emergence of spatial selectivity in hippocampal neurons, a critical
 prerequisite for episodic memory.
description: # Synaptic basis of feature selectivity in hippocampal neurons
 [https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.66t1g1k9r](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.66t1g1k9r) ## Description of the data and file structure Processed spine data for both experimental (with opsin) and control (without opsin) groups. Description of column headers: 1. region: Dendritic compartment recorded (o, oblique; b, basal) 2. scan_roi: Unique identifier of branch (o3, oblique branch #3) 3. group_label: Name of structure imaged (spine) 4. roi_label: Identity of each spine on imaged branch (s1, spine#1; s2, spine#2) 5. field_count: Unique identifier of glutamate place field number at each spine 6. field_start and field_stop: Start and stop location of glutamate place field (normalized 0-100) 7. time_difference: Amount of time elapsed between arrival of glutamate input and onset of place field stimulation (seconds) 8. initial_w: Initial spine weight (a.u.) 9. reward_location: Location of water rewards in the environment (normalized 0-100) 10. final_w: Final spine weight (a.u.) 11. delta_w: Change in spine weight (final-initial) (a.u.) 12. field_center: Center of glutamate place field (normalized 0-100) 13. zscore_initial_w: Z-scored initial spine weight 14. log2fc: Change in spine weight on a Log2 scale 15. modulation_index: Ratio of change in spine weight 16. experiment: Unique identifier of mouse and experiment number 17. percent_pf_strength: Change in somatic jRGECO1a calcium tuning curves inside induction zone before and after place field induction (%) 18. log2_pf_strength: Change in somatic jRGECO1a calcium tuning curves inside induction zone before and after place field induction on a Log2 scale 19. reward1_loc and reward2_loc: Location of water rewards (normalized 0-1) 20. led_center_loc: Center location of LED stimulation (normalized 0-1) 21. led_onset_loc: Start location of LED stimulation (normalized 0-1) 22. dist_rwd1_led_onset and dist_rwd2_led_onset: Distance between rewards and LED onset (normalized 0-1) 23. post_somatic_avgtc_peak_loc = Peak of somatic jRGECO1a calcium tuning curve after place field induction (normalized 0-1) 24. dist_led_onset_postsomapeak = Distance between LED onset and the peak of the somatic jRGECO1a calcium tuning curve after place field induction (normalized 0-1) 25. led_onset_rwd_shortest_distance = Shortest distance between LED onset and reward location 26. abs_deltaw = Absolute value of change in synaptic weights ## Code/Software Python 2.7 and Python 3.7 are required to run all analysis codes.