title: Odor-evoked activity in the mouse lateral entorhinal cortex.
abstract: The entorhinal cortex is a brain area with multiple reciprocal connections to the hippocampus, amygdala, perirhinal cortex, olfactory bulb and piriform cortex. As such, it is thought to play a large role in the olfactory memory process. The present study is the first to compare lateral entorhinal and anterior piriform cortex odor-evoked single-unit and local field potential activity in mouse. Recordings were made in urethane-anesthetized mice that were administered a range of three pure odors and three overlapping odor mixtures. Results show that spontaneous as well as odor-evoked unit activity was lower in lateral entorhinal versus piriform cortex. In addition, units in lateral entorhinal cortex were responsive to a more restricted set of odors compared to piriform. Conversely, odor-evoked power change in local field potential activity was greater in the lateral entorhinal cortex in the theta band than in piriform. The highly odor-specific and restricted firing in lateral entorhinal cortex suggests that it may play a role in modulating odor-specific, experience- and state-dependent olfactory coding.
authors.affiliation: Emotional Brain Institute, Nathan S. Kline Institute for Psychiatric Research Orangeburg, NY 10962, USA. wxu@nki.rfmh.org
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: D A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Wilson
mesh_terms: D000200:Action Potentials / Q000502:physiology*; D000344:Afferent Pathways / Q000502:physiology; D000818:Animals; D001931:Brain Mapping; D018728:Entorhinal Cortex / Q000166:cytology* / Q000502:physiology*; D005073:Evoked Potentials, Somatosensory / Q000502:physiology*; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D009474:Neurons / Q000502:physiology*; D009812:Odorants; D011601:Psychophysics