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Peer-reviewedCC BYScience Advances

Intrinsic cellular persistent firing sustains hippocampal spatial representations during working memory

  • Babak Saber Marouf1,2,3
  • Antonio Reboreda1,2
  • Frederik Theissen1,2
  • Rahul Kaushik4
  • Magdalena Sauvage1,5,6
  • Alexander Dityatev4,5,6
  • Motoharu Yoshida1,2,6
6 affiliations
  1. 1Leibniz Institute for Neurobiology, Brenneckestraße 6, 39118 Magdeburg, Germany.
  2. 2Cognitive Neurophysiology Group, German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE), 39120 Magdeburg, Germany.
  3. 3Institute of Physiology, Medical Faculty, Otto-Von-Guericke University, 39120 Magdeburg, Germany.
  4. 4Molecular Neuroplasticity Group, German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE), 39120 Magdeburg, Germany.
  5. 5Medical Faculty, Otto-von-Guericke University (OVGU), 39120 Magdeburg, Germany.
  6. 6Center for Behavioral Brain Sciences (CBBS), 39106 Magdeburg, Germany.
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Abstract

Neurons are the fundamental units of cognitive processing. The prevailing view holds that neurons are input-output units that fire action potentials only upon receiving sufficient synaptic input. Here, we demonstrate that this may not be the sole operational mode of neurons in vivo during cognitive tasks, by showing that hippocampal place cells actively maintain firing and preserve spatial information through molecularly defined intrinsic mechanisms. Using in vitro and in vivo recordings coupled with molecular manipulation in mice, we reveal that hippocampal persistent firing during spatial working memory is supported by individual neurons via TRPC4 ion channels. Despite the general belief that persistent activity maintains working memory content, we demonstrate that persistent firing instead maintains immediate spatial representations, potentially supporting the encoding of spatial information to guide behavior. These findings position individual neurons as active contributors to information retention, extending their traditional role as passive input-output units and potentially broadening our understanding of neural computation.

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Cite

BibTeXRIS
BibTeX
@article{marouf2026intrinsic,
  title = {{Intrinsic cellular persistent firing sustains hippocampal spatial representations during working memory}},
  author = {Babak Saber Marouf and Antonio Reboreda and Frederik Theissen and Rahul Kaushik and Magdalena Sauvage and Alexander Dityatev and Motoharu Yoshida},
  journal = {Science Advances},
  year = {2026},
  month = oct,
  doi = {10.1126/sciadv.aef9907},
  url = {https://www.science.org/doi/abs/10.1126/sciadv.aef9907},
  note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY  - JOUR
TI  - Intrinsic cellular persistent firing sustains hippocampal spatial representations during working memory
AU  - Babak Saber Marouf
AU  - Antonio Reboreda
AU  - Frederik Theissen
AU  - Rahul Kaushik
AU  - Magdalena Sauvage
AU  - Alexander Dityatev
AU  - Motoharu Yoshida
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/10/30
JO  - Science Advances
DO  - 10.1126/sciadv.aef9907
UR  - https://www.science.org/doi/abs/10.1126/sciadv.aef9907
AB  - Neurons are the fundamental units of cognitive processing. The prevailing view holds that neurons are input-output units that fire action potentials only upon receiving sufficient synaptic input. Here, we demonstrate that this may not be the sole operational mode of neurons in vivo during cognitive tasks, by showing that hippocampal place cells actively maintain firing and preserve spatial information through molecularly defined intrinsic mechanisms. Using in vitro and in vivo recordings coupled with molecular manipulation in mice, we reveal that hippocampal persistent firing during spatial working memory is supported by individual neurons via TRPC4 ion channels. Despite the general belief that persistent activity maintains working memory content, we demonstrate that persistent firing instead maintains immediate spatial representations, potentially supporting the encoding of spatial information to guide behavior. These findings position individual neurons as active contributors to information retention, extending their traditional role as passive input-output units and potentially broadening our understanding of neural computation.
SN  - 2375-2548
ER  -