Abstract
How visual scene memory is processed differentially by the upstream structures of the hippocampus is largely unknown. We sought to dissociate functionally the lateral and medial subdivisions of the entorhinal cortex (LEC and MEC, respectively) in visual scene-dependent tasks by temporarily inactivating the LEC and MEC in the same rat. When the rat made spatial choices in a T-maze using visual scenes displayed on LCD screens, the inactivation of the MEC but not the LEC produced severe deficits in performance. However, when the task required the animal to push a jar or to dig in the sand in the jar using the same scene stimuli, the LEC but not the MEC became important. Our findings suggest that the entorhinal cortex is critical for scene-dependent mnemonic behavior, and the response modality may interact with a sensory modality to determine the involvement of the LEC and MEC in scene-based memory tasks.
Highlights
How visual scene memory is processed differentially by the upstream structures of the hippocampus is largely unknown
We tested rats (n = 8) implanted with bilateral cannulae targeting both the lateral entorhinal cortex (LEC) and medial entorhinal cortex (MEC) simultaneously (Figure 1A to Figure 1C) in a scene-based spatial choice (SSC) task in which the rats were required to choose either the left or right arm in a T-maze using the surrounding visual scene displayed in an array of LCD panels around the maze (Kim et al, 2012; Delcasso et al, 2014)
Because MEC-MUS rats were not impaired on the scenedependent nonspatial choice (SNSC) task, the MEC may not be responsible for processing visual scenes in any type of behavior
Summary
How visual scene memory is processed differentially by the upstream structures of the hippocampus is largely unknown. We sought to dissociate functionally the lateral and medial subdivisions of the entorhinal cortex (LEC and MEC, respectively) in visual scene-dependent tasks by temporarily inactivating the LEC and MEC in the same rat. When the rat made spatial choices in a T-maze using visual scenes displayed on LCD screens, the inactivation of the MEC but not the LEC produced severe deficits in performance. When the task required the animal to push a jar or to dig in the sand in the jar using the same scene stimuli, the LEC but not the MEC became important. Our findings suggest that the entorhinal cortex is critical for scene-dependent mnemonic behavior, and the response modality may interact with a sensory modality to determine the involvement of the LEC and MEC in scene-based memory tasks
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