No evidence from complementary data sources of a direct glutamatergic projection from the mouse anterior cingulate area to the hippocampal formation.

Abstract

The connectivity and interplay between the prefrontal cortex and hippocampus underpin various key cognitive processes, with changes in these interactions being implicated in both neurodevelopmental as well as neurodegenerative conditions. Understanding the precise cellular connections through which this circuit is organised is, therefore, vital for understanding these same processes. Overturning earlier findings, a recent study described a novel excitatory projection from anterior cingulate area to dorsal hippocampus. We sought to validate this unexpected finding using multiple, complementary methods: anterograde and retrograde anatomical tracing, using anterograde and retrograde AAVs, monosynaptic rabies tracing and the Fast Blue classical tracer. Additionally, an extensive data search of the Allen Projection Brain Atlas database was conducted to find the stated projection within any of the deposited anatomical studies, as an independent verification of our own results. However, we failed to find any evidence of a direct, monosynaptic glutamatergic projection from mouse anterior cingulate cortex to the hippocampus proper.