Precise coupling of the thalamic head-direction system to hippocampal ripples

Viejo and Peyrache took advantage of NeuroNexus 8-shank polytrodes to sample from multiple sub-nuclei in the anterior thalamus in awake behaving mice. They were able to identify head direction (HD) cells in the AD nucleus and characterize firing rates and burstiness of HD and non-HD cells. Results demonstrated that AD HD cells specifically increase gain and coherence during hippocampal sharp wave ripples.