Brain computation. Selective information routing by ventral hippocampal CA1 projection neurons.
The hippocampus computes diverse information involving spatial memory, anxiety, or reward and directly projects to several brain areas. Are different computations transmitted to all downstream targets uniformly, or does the hippocampus selectively route information according to content and target region? By recording from ventral hippocampal CA1 neurons in rats during different behavioral tasks and determining axonal projections with optogenetics, we observed subsets of neurons changing firing at places of elevated anxiety or changing activity during goal approach. Anxiety-related firing was selectively increased in neurons projecting to the prefrontal cortex. Goal-directed firing was most prominent in neurons targeting the nucleus accumbens; and triple-projecting neurons, targeting the prefrontal cortex, amygdala, and nucleus accumbens, were most active during tasks and sharp wave/ripples. Thus, hippocampal neurons route distinct behavior-contingent information selectively to different target areas.
Center for Brain Research, Department for Cognitive Neurobiology, Medical University Vienna, Spitalgasse 4, 1090 Vienna, Austria. stephane.ciocchi@meduniwien.ac.at thomas.klausberger@meduniwien.ac.at.
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Ciocchi
Center for Brain Research, Department for Cognitive Neurobiology, Medical University Vienna, Spitalgasse 4, 1090 Vienna, Austria.
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Passecker
Center for Brain Research, Department for Cognitive Neurobiology, Medical University Vienna, Spitalgasse 4, 1090 Vienna, Austria.
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Malagon-Vina
Center for Brain Research, Department for Cognitive Neurobiology, Medical University Vienna, Spitalgasse 4, 1090 Vienna, Austria.
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Mikus
Center for Brain Research, Department for Cognitive Neurobiology, Medical University Vienna, Spitalgasse 4, 1090 Vienna, Austria. Medical Research Council, Anatomical Neuropharmacology Unit, Oxford University, Mansfield Road, Oxford OX1 3TH, UK. stephane.ciocchi@meduniwien.ac.at thomas.klausberger@meduniwien.ac.at.
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Klausberger
D000818:Animals; D001007:Anxiety / Q000503:physiopathology; D056547:CA1 Region, Hippocampal / Q000502:physiology*; D002450:Cell Communication; D008297:Male; D008606:Mental Processes / Q000502:physiology*; D009474:Neurons / Q000502:physiology; D009714:Nucleus Accumbens / Q000502:physiology; D062308:Optogenetics; D017397:Prefrontal Cortex / Q000502:physiology; D051381:Rats; D020332:Rats, Inbred LEC; D065853:Spatial Learning