Abstract
The prefrontal cortex receives multiple inputs from the hippocampal complex, which are thought to drive memory-guided behavior. Moreover, dysfunctions of both regions have been repeatedly associated with several psychiatric disorders. Therefore, understanding the interconnections and modulatory interactions between these regions is essential in evaluating their role in behavior and pathology. The effects of entorhinal cortex (EC) stimulation on the activity of identified medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) pyramidal neurons were examined using single-unit extracellular recordings and sharp-electrode intracellular recordings in anesthetized rats. Single-pulse electrical stimulation of EC induced a powerful inhibition in the majority of mPFC neurons examined during extracellular recording. Intracellular recording showed that EC stimulation evoked a complex synaptic response, in which the greater proportion of neurons exhibited excitatory postsynaptic events and/or a short lasting and a prolonged inhibitory postsynaptic response. Furthermore, stimulation of EC selectively produced an augmentation of the bistable up-down state only in the type 2 regular spiking neurons and in a subclass of nonintrinsic bursting neurons. Taken together, these data suggest that the potent inhibition observed following EC stimulation may mask a direct excitatory response within the mPFC which markedly potentiates the bistable states in a select subpopulation of mPFC pyramidal neurons.
Highlights
In the past several years, the prefrontal cortex has received substantial interest due to the key role it plays in a wide variety of task ranging from learning and memory (Goldman-Rakic 1995; Laroche et al 2000; Dash et al 2007) to the regulation of emotional states (Herman et al 1996; LaBar and Cabeza 2006; Quirk et al 2006; Sotres-Bayon et al 2006)
This study represents the first investigation of entorhinal cortex (EC) modulation of medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) pyramidal neuron activity
Both stimulation of perirhinal cortex (PrC) or inactivation of the HPC--mPFC pathway failed to alter the mPFC response to EC, suggesting that EC is modulating mPFC neurons activity through the direct EC--mPFC pathway
Summary
In the past several years, the prefrontal cortex has received substantial interest due to the key role it plays in a wide variety of task ranging from learning and memory (Goldman-Rakic 1995; Laroche et al 2000; Dash et al 2007) to the regulation of emotional states (Herman et al 1996; LaBar and Cabeza 2006; Quirk et al 2006; Sotres-Bayon et al 2006) These multifaceted activities are believed to be driven by multiple interconnections between the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) and specific limbic and midbrain structures as well as sensory association cortices in the parietal and temporal lobes (Sesack et al 1989; Conde et al 1995; Vertes 2004; Gabbott et al 2005). These interactions are positioned to effectively gate information flow within the mPFC
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