title: Distinct roles of medial and lateral entorhinal cortex in spatial cognition.
abstract: It is known that the entorhinal cortex plays a crucial role in spatial cognition in rodents. Neuroanatomical and electrophysiological data suggest that there is a functional distinction between 2 subregions within the entorhinal cortex, the medial entorhinal cortex (MEC), and the lateral entorhinal cortex (LEC). Rats with MEC or LEC lesions were trained in 2 navigation tasks requiring allothetic (water maze task) or idiothetic (path integration) information processing and 2-object exploration tasks allowing testing of spatial and nonspatial processing of intramaze objects. MEC lesions mildly affected place navigation in the water maze and produced a path integration deficit. They also altered the processing of spatial information in both exploration tasks while sparing the processing of nonspatial information. LEC lesions did not affect navigation abilities in both the water maze and the path integration tasks. They altered spatial and nonspatial processing in the object exploration task but not in the one-trial recognition task. Overall, these results indicate that the MEC is important for spatial processing and path integration. The LEC has some influence on both spatial and nonspatial processes, suggesting that the 2 kinds of information interact at the level of the EC.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience, UMR 7291 Aix-Marseille University-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, 13331 Marseille Cedex 3, France.
authors.forename: Tiffany
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Van Cauter
authors.forename: Jeremy
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Camon
authors.forename: Alice
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Alvernhe
authors.forename: Coralie
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Elduayen
authors.forename: Francesca
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Sargolini
authors.forename: Etienne
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Save
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology; D018728:Entorhinal Cortex / Q000502:physiology*; D005106:Exploratory Behavior / Q000502:physiology; D008297:Male; D018782:Maze Learning / Q000502:physiology; D051381:Rats; D020318:Rats, Long-Evans; D013028:Space Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D013037:Spatial Behavior / Q000502:physiology*