Local projections of layer Vb-to-Va are more prominent in lateral than in medial entorhinal cortex
Abstract
The entorhinal cortex, in particular neurons in layer V, allegedly mediate transfer of information from the hippocampus to the neocortex, underlying long-term memory. Recently, this circuit has been shown to comprise a hippocampal output recipient layer Vb and a cortical projecting layer Va. With the use of in vitro electrophysiology in transgenic mice specific for layer Vb, we assessed the presence of the thus necessary connection from layer Vb-to-Va in the functionally distinct medial (MEC) and lateral (LEC) subdivisions; MEC, particularly its dorsal part, processes allocentric spatial information, whereas the corresponding part of LEC processes information representing elements of episodes. Using identical experimental approaches, we show that connections from layer Vb-to-Va neurons are stronger in dorsal LEC compared with dorsal MEC, suggesting different operating principles in these two regions. Although further in vivo experiments are needed, our findings imply a potential difference in how LEC and MEC mediate episodic systems-consolidation.
Data availability
All data generated or analyzed during this study are included in the manuscript and supporting files. We provide source data for Figure 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, Figure1-figure supplement 2, and Figure4-figure supplement 2.
Article and author information
Author details
Funding
Kavli Foundation (endowment)
- Menno P Witter
Norwegian Research Council (infrastructure grant NORBRAIN,#197467)
- Menno P Witter
Norwegian Research Council (the Centre of Excellence scheme - Centre for Neural Computation,#223262)
- Menno P Witter
Norwegian Research Council (research grant,# 227769)
- Menno P Witter
Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (KAKENHI,#19K06917)
- Shinya Ohara
The funders had no role in study design, data collection and interpretation, or the decision to submit the work for publication.
Reviewing Editor
- Katalin Toth, University of Ottawa, Canada
Ethics
Animal experimentation: All experiments were approved by the local ethics committee and were in accordance with the European Communities Council Directive and the Norwegian Experiments on Animals Act (#17898, #22312).
Version history
- Received: February 5, 2021
- Accepted: March 25, 2021
- Accepted Manuscript published: March 26, 2021 (version 1)
- Version of Record published: April 16, 2021 (version 2)
Copyright
© 2021, Ohara et al.
This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License permitting unrestricted use and redistribution provided that the original author and source are credited.
Metrics
-
- 2,267
- views
-
- 300
- downloads
-
- 11
- citations
Views, downloads and citations are aggregated across all versions of this paper published by eLife.
Download links
Downloads (link to download the article as PDF)
Open citations (links to open the citations from this article in various online reference manager services)
Cite this article (links to download the citations from this article in formats compatible with various reference manager tools)
Further reading
-
- Neuroscience
Cortical folding is an important feature of primate brains that plays a crucial role in various cognitive and behavioral processes. Extensive research has revealed both similarities and differences in folding morphology and brain function among primates including macaque and human. The folding morphology is the basis of brain function, making cross-species studies on folding morphology important for understanding brain function and species evolution. However, prior studies on cross-species folding morphology mainly focused on partial regions of the cortex instead of the entire brain. Previously, our research defined a whole-brain landmark based on folding morphology: the gyral peak. It was found to exist stably across individuals and ages in both human and macaque brains. Shared and unique gyral peaks in human and macaque are identified in this study, and their similarities and differences in spatial distribution, anatomical morphology, and functional connectivity were also dicussed.
-
- Neuroscience
Complex skills like speech and dance are composed of ordered sequences of simpler elements, but the neuronal basis for the syntactic ordering of actions is poorly understood. Birdsong is a learned vocal behavior composed of syntactically ordered syllables, controlled in part by the songbird premotor nucleus HVC (proper name). Here, we test whether one of HVC’s recurrent inputs, mMAN (medial magnocellular nucleus of the anterior nidopallium), contributes to sequencing in adult male Bengalese finches (Lonchura striata domestica). Bengalese finch song includes several patterns: (1) chunks, comprising stereotyped syllable sequences; (2) branch points, where a given syllable can be followed probabilistically by multiple syllables; and (3) repeat phrases, where individual syllables are repeated variable numbers of times. We found that following bilateral lesions of mMAN, acoustic structure of syllables remained largely intact, but sequencing became more variable, as evidenced by ‘breaks’ in previously stereotyped chunks, increased uncertainty at branch points, and increased variability in repeat numbers. Our results show that mMAN contributes to the variable sequencing of vocal elements in Bengalese finch song and demonstrate the influence of recurrent projections to HVC. Furthermore, they highlight the utility of species with complex syntax in investigating neuronal control of ordered sequences.