Electrophysiological analysis of the dorsal hippocampal commissure projections to the entorhinal area.
Synaptic effects evoked in the entorhinal area by dorsal hippocampal commissure (dorsal psalterium) projections were analysed in anesthetized adult guinea-pigs by means of a field potential analysis. Stimuli applied to the caudal part of the dorsal psalterium evoked a complex response in the dorsal third of the entorhinal area. The early part of the entorhinal response consisted of a slow wave interrupted by a spike potential. The electrophysiological characteristics and the laminar distribution of the slow wave and of the spike potential, together with the presence of time-locked unit activity, suggested that dorsal psalterium projections evoke monosynaptic excitatory postsynaptic potentials leading to cellular discharge in radially oriented neurons of layers II and III. The commissural fibers responsible for these effects originate in the contralateral presubiculum. The early part of the entorhinal response was followed by three waves in close temporal sequence. These waves were polysynaptically generated and associated with excitatory and inhibitory synaptic effects. Inhibition was demonstrated for the monosynaptically generated spike potential. Whether these effects were mediated by intracortical circuits and/or extrinsic projections cannot be stated from the present results. Causal relations were observed between the entorhinal monosynaptic response and that evoked by dorsal psalterium stimulation in the ipsilateral dentate gyrus, previously shown to be relayed by perforant path fibers. The results indicate that presubicular commissural projections to the entorhinal area monosynaptically activate neurons of the perforant pathway, whose discharge brings about activation of the ipsilateral dentate gyrus.
Istituto di Fisiologia umana, Università di Bologna, Italy.
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D000200:Action Potentials; D000818:Animals; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000502:physiology*; D004558:Electric Stimulation; D005260:Female; D006168:Guinea Pigs / Q000502:physiology*; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000502:physiology*; D009434:Neural Pathways / Q000502:physiology; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology