Abstract
The retrosplenial cortex (RSC) is implicated on navigation and contextual memory. Lesions studies showed that the RSC shares functional similarities with the hippocampus (HP). Here we evaluated the role of the anterior RSC (aRSC) in the “what” and “where” components of recognition memory and contrasted it with that of the dorsal HP (dHP). Our behavioral and molecular findings show functional differences between the aRSC and the dHP in recognition memory. The inactivation of the aRSC, but not the dHP, impairs the consolidation and expression of the “what” memory component. In addition, object recognition task is accompanied by c-Fos levels increase in the aRSC. Interestingly, we found that the aRSC is recruited to process the “what” memory component only if it is active during acquisition. In contrast, both the aRSC and dHP are required for encoding the “where” component, which correlates with c-Fos levels increase. Our findings introduce a novel role of the aRSC in recognition memory, processing not only the “where”, but also the “what” memory component.
Highlights
The retrosplenial cortex (RSC) is implicated on navigation and contextual memory
We analyzed the participation of the anterior RSC (aRSC) and dorsal HP (dHP) in the formation of Y-OR long-term memory (LTM) by infusing the GABAA receptor agonist muscimol (0.1 μg/μl) or vehicle into the aRSC or the dHP immediately after the sample phase, and we evaluated memory expression 24 h later during the choice phase (Fig. 1a)
In this study we showed that aRSC and dHP are differentially involved in the processing of the “what” and the “where” components of the recognition memory
Summary
The retrosplenial cortex (RSC) is implicated on navigation and contextual memory. Lesions studies showed that the RSC shares functional similarities with the hippocampus (HP). We evaluated the role of the anterior RSC (aRSC) in the “what” and “where” components of recognition memory and contrasted it with that of the dorsal HP (dHP). In the present study we evaluated the role of anterior RSC (aRSC) in the processing of the different components of recognition memory and contrasted its function with that of the dorsal HP (dHP). We used three variants of the object recognition task, with different amount of spatial information to evaluate the “what” component with or without “where” component associated as well as the explicit “where” component of the recognition memory All these variants have only one sample phase (training session), which allows us to distinguish the different memory stages (acquisition, consolidation and retrieval) by using a transient brain region inactivation method. Functions of the aRSC from those of the dHP, given that the last one is only required for the “where” component of recognition memory
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