Direct projections from the entorhinal cortical layers to the dentate gyrus, hippocampus, and subicular complex in the cat

Abstract

Projections from each layer of the entorhinal cortex (EC) of the cat were traced to the dentate gyrus (DG), Ammon's horn (CA), prosubiculum (Prosb), subiculum (Sb), presubiculum (PreSb) and parasubiculum (Parasb); the anterograde or retrograde labeling method was used after stereotaxic injection of wheat germ agglutinin-horseradish peroxidase, cholera toxin B subunit, or Phaseolus vulgaris leucoagglutinin. On the side ipsilateral to the tracer-injection, layer II of the EC projected most abundantly to the outer half of the molecular layer (ML) of the DG, less abundantly to the almost entire thickness of the stratum lacunosum-moleculare (SLM) of CA2–3, moderately to the almost entire thickness of the SLM of CAI, and less to the outer part of the ML of the Prosb and Sb. Layer III projected abundantly to the almost entire thickness of the SLM of CAI and outer part of the ML of the Prosb and Sb, and sparsely to the SLM of CA2–3. Layer IV projected sparsely to the pyramidal cell layer of the Prosb and Sb; Layer IV of the medial part (toward the Parasb) of the EC projected further to the ML of the DG. Layer VI projected sparsely to the outer part of the ML of the DG, almost entire thickness of the SLM of CA1–3, and outer part of the ML of the Prosb and Sb. More temporal parts of the hippocampal region received the projections from progressively more medial and more rostral parts of layers II and 111, and from progressively more rostral parts of layers IV and VI. The ML of the PreSb and Parasb received projections from all layers of the medial part of the ipsilateral EC. The SLM of CAI and ML of the Prosb, Sb and Parasb received projections from layer II and/or III of the contralateral medial entorhinal area.