Human Subiculum Research Articles

Homologous laminar organization of the mouse and human subiculum

The subiculum is the major output component of the hippocampal formation and one of the major brain structures most affected by Alzheimer’s disease. Our previous work revealed a hidden laminar architecture within the mouse subiculum. However, the rotation of the hippocampal longitudinal axis across species makes it unclear how the laminar organization is represented in human subiculum. Using in situ hybridization data from the Allen Human Brain Atlas, we demonstrate that the human subiculum also contains complementary laminar gene expression patterns similar to the mouse. In addition, we provide evidence that the molecular domain boundaries in human subiculum correspond to microstructural differences observed in high resolution MRI and fiber density imaging. Finally, we show both similarities and differences in the gene expression profile of subiculum pyramidal cells within homologous lamina. Overall, we present a new 3D model of the anatomical organization of human subiculum and its evolution from the mouse.

Electrophysiological Signatures of Spatial Boundaries in the Human Subiculum.

Environmental boundaries play a crucial role in spatial navigation and memory across a wide range of distantly related species. In rodents, boundary representations have been identified at the single-cell level in the subiculum and entorhinal cortex of the hippocampal formation. Although studies of hippocampal function and spatial behavior suggest that similar representations might exist in humans, boundary-related neural activity has not been identified electrophysiologically in humans until now. To address this gap in the literature, we analyzed intracranial recordings from the hippocampal formation of surgical epilepsy patients (of both sexes) while they performed a virtual spatial navigation task and compared the power in three frequency bands (1-4, 4-10, and 30-90 Hz) for target locations near and far from the environmental boundaries. Our results suggest that encoding locations near boundaries elicited stronger theta oscillations than for target locations near the center of the environment and that this difference cannot be explained by variables such as trial length, speed, movement, or performance. These findings provide direct evidence of boundary-dependent neural activity localized in humans to the subiculum, the homolog of the hippocampal subregion in which most boundary cells are found in rodents, and indicate that this system can represent attended locations that rather than the position of one's own body.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Spatial computations using environmental boundaries are an integral part of the brain's spatial mapping system. In rodents, border/boundary cells in the subiculum and entorhinal cortex reveal boundary coding at the single-neuron level. Although there is good reason to believe that such representations also exist in humans, the evidence has thus far been limited to functional neuroimaging studies that broadly implicate the hippocampus in boundary-based navigation. By combining intracranial recordings with high-resolution imaging of hippocampal subregions, we identified a neural marker of boundary representation in the human subiculum.

Ultra-High-Field fMRI Reveals a Role for the Subiculum in Scene Perceptual Discrimination.

Recent “representational” accounts suggest a key role for the hippocampus in complex scene perception. Due to limitations in scanner field strength, however, the functional neuroanatomy of hippocampal-dependent scene perception is unknown. Here, we applied 7 T high-resolution functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) alongside a perceptual oddity task, modified from nonhuman primate studies. This task requires subjects to discriminate highly similar scenes, faces, or objects from multiple viewpoints, and has revealed selective impairments during scene discrimination following hippocampal lesions. Region-of-interest analyses identified a preferential response in the subiculum subfield of the hippocampus during scene, but not face or object, discriminations. Notably, this effect was in the anteromedial subiculum and was not modulated by whether scenes were subsequently remembered or forgotten. These results highlight the value of ultra-high-field fMRI in generating more refined, anatomically informed, functional accounts of hippocampal contributions to cognition, and a unique role for the human subiculum in discrimination of complex scenes from different viewpoints.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT There is increasing evidence that the human hippocampus supports functions beyond just episodic memory, with human lesion studies suggesting a contribution to the perceptual processing of navigationally relevant, complex scenes. While the hippocampus itself contains several small, functionally distinct subfields, examining the role of these in scene processing has been previously limited by scanner field strength. By applying ultra-high-resolution 7 T fMRI, we delineated the functional contribution of individual hippocampal subfields during a perceptual discrimination task for scenes, faces, and objects. This demonstrated that the discrimination of scenes, relative to faces and objects, recruits the anterior subicular region of the hippocampus, regardless of whether scenes were subsequently remembered or forgotten.

Effects of a reduced efficacy of the KCC2 co-transporter in temporal lobe epilepsy: single neuron and network study

Epilepsy is one of the most common neurological disorders. Seizures in about 40% of patients with temporal lobe epilepsies are pharmaco-resistant [1]. In surgically removed hippocampal tissue from these patients, the KCC2 cotransporter is absent or non-functional in about 20 % of subicular pyramidal cells [2]. KCC2 normally assures the maintenance of low intra-neuronal chloride levels [3] and also regulates potassium levels [4]. Chloride concentration changes in the remaining pyramidal cells due to intensive GABAergic input during seizures could reverse the effects of GABA currents from inhibitory to excitatory [5,6]. Such changes may shift a pyramidal cell into a periodic bursting regime associated with ictal discharges. Using a detailed biophysical model of a single cell incorporating these mechanisms of ionic homeostasis and a neural network model, we show that decreasing the activity of KCC2 pump leads to repetitive seizure-like firing in the pathologic network due to increased extracellular potassium and intracellular chloride (Fig. ​(Fig.1).1). This model provides insights into how a dysregulation of pyramidal cell chloride homeostasis due to reduced levels of the KCC2 cotransporter may lead to seizures in the epileptic human subiculum. Figure 1 A raster plot of pyramidal cell population firing; B raster plot of interneuron firing; C spatial distribution of extracellular potassium; D intracellular chloride distribution.

Evidence for an anterior–posterior differentiation in the human hippocampal formation revealed by meta-analytic parcellation of fMRI coordinate maps: Focus on the subiculum

Previous studies, predominantly in experimental animals, have suggested the presence of a differentiation of function across the hippocampal formation. In rodents, ventral regions are thought to be involved in emotional behavior while dorsal regions mediate cognitive or spatial processes. Using a combination of modeling the co-occurrence of significant activations across thousands of neuroimaging experiments and subsequent data-driven clustering of these data we were able to provide evidence of distinct subregions within a region corresponding to the human subiculum, a critical hub within the hippocampal formation. This connectivity-based model consists of a bilateral anterior region, as well as separate posterior and intermediate regions on each hemisphere. Functional connectivity assessed both by meta-analytic and resting fMRI approaches revealed that more anterior regions were more strongly connected to the default mode network, and more posterior regions were more strongly connected to ‘task positive’ regions. In addition, our analysis revealed that the anterior subregion was functionally connected to the ventral striatum, midbrain and amygdala, a circuit that is central to models of stress and motivated behavior. Analysis of a behavioral taxonomy provided evidence for a role for each subregion in mnemonic processing, as well as implication of the anterior subregion in emotional and visual processing and the right posterior subregion in reward processing. These findings lend support to models which posit anterior–posterior differentiation of function within the human hippocampal formation and complement other early steps toward a comparative (cross-species) model of the region.

Morphometric characteristics of the neurons of the human subiculum proper

The human subiculum is a significant part of the hippocampal formation positioned between the hippocampus proper and the entorhinal and other cortices. It plays an important role in spatial navigation, memory processing and control of the response to stress. The aim of our study was identification of the morphometric characteristics of the neurons of the human subiculum proper: the maximum length and width of cell body and total dendritic length and volume of cell body. Comparing the measured parameters of different types of subicular neurons (bipolar, multipolar, pyramidal neurons with triangular-shaped soma and neurons with oval-shaped soma), we can conclude that bipolar neurons have the lowest values of the measured parameters: the maximum length of their cell body is 14.1 ? 0.2 ?m, the maximum width is 13.9 ? 0.5 ?m, and total dendritic length is 14597 ? 3.1 ?m. The lowest volume value was observed in bipolar neurons; the polymorphic layer is 1152.99 ? 662.69 ?m3. The pyramidal neurons of the pyramidal layer have the highest value for the maximal length of the cell body (44.43 ? 7.94 ?m), maximum width (23.64 ? 1.89 ?m), total dendritic length (1830 ? 466.3 ?m) and volume (11768.65?4004.9 ?m3) These characteristics of the pyramidal neurons indicate their importance, because the axons of these neurons make up the greatest part of the fornix, along with the axons of neurons of the CA1 hippocampal field.

Morphology of neurons of human subiculum proper

Subiculum proper is an archicortical structure of the subicular complex and presents the place of origin of great majority of axons of the whole hippocampal formation. In contrast to the hippocampus which has been intensively studied, the data about human subiculum proper are quite scarce. The aim of our study was to identify morphological characteristics of neurons of the human subiculum proper. The study was performed on 10 brains of both genders by using Golgi impregnation and Nissl staining. The subiculum has three layers: molecular, pyramidal and polymorphic layer. The dominant cell type in the pyramidal layer was the pyramidal neurons, which had pyramidal shaped soma, multiple basal dendrites and one apical dendrite. The nonpyramidal cells were scattered among the pyramidal cells of the pyramidal layer. The nonpyramidal cells were classified on: multipolar, bipolar and neurons with triangular-shaped soma. The neurons of the molecular layer of the human subiculum were divided into groups: bipolar and multipolar neurons. The most numerous cells of the polymorphic layer were bipolar and multipolar neurons.

Properties of in vivo interictal spike generation in the human subiculum

A large proportion of hippocampal afferents and efferents are relayed through the subiculum. It is also thought to be a key structure in the generation and maintenance of epileptic activity; rhythmic interictal-like discharges were recorded in previous studies of subicular slices excised from temporal lobe epilepsy patients. In order to investigate if and how the subiculum is involved in the generation of epileptic discharges in vivo, subicular and lateral temporal lobe electrical activity were recorded under anesthesia in 11 drug-resistant epilepsy patients undergoing temporal lobectomy. Based on laminar field potential gradient, current source density, multiple unit activity (MUA) and spectral analyses, two types of interictal spikes were distinguished in the subiculum. The more frequently occurring spike started with an initial excitatory current (current source density sink) in the pyramidal cell layer associated with increased MUA in the same location, followed by later inhibitory currents (current source density source) and decreased MUA. In the other spike type, the initial excitation was confined to the apical dendritic region and it was associated with a less-prominent increase in MUA. Interictal spikes were highly synchronized at spatially distinct locations of the subiculum. Laminar data showed that the peak of the initial excitation occurred within 0-4 ms at subicular sites separated by 6 mm at the anterior-posterior axis. In addition, initial spike peak amplitudes were highly correlated in most recordings. A subset of subicular and temporal lobe spikes were also highly synchronous, in one case the subicular spikes reliably preceded the temporal lobe discharges. Our results indicate that multiple spike generator mechanisms exist in the human epileptic subiculum suggesting a complex network interplay between medial and lateral temporal structures during interictal epileptic activity. The observed widespread intra-subicular synchrony may reflect both of its intrinsic and extrinsically triggered activity supporting the hypothesis that subiculum may also play an active role in the distribution of epileptiform activity to other brain regions. Limited data suggest that subiculum might even play a pacemaker role in the generation of paroxysmal discharges.

Neurotensin immunoreactivity in the human cingulate gyrus, hippocampal subiculum and mammillary bodies. Its potential role in memory processing

Neurotensin immunoreactive neurons comprise the majority of large perikarya in the human subiculum and project axons to the alveus, fimbria, fornix and neuropil of the mammillary bodies. These regions are prominently involved in conditions such as Wernicke's and Alzheimer's disease in which memory is impaired. Neurotensin has potential significance as a peptide in a human brain circuit which may serve a role in memory processing.