Role of ventral hippocampus - pre-limbic cortex circuit in recognition and spatial memory (recent and remote) of Wistar rats

• Grant number: 16/07464-0
• Support type: Regular Research Grants
• Duration: February 01, 2017 - May 31, 2019
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Physiology
• Principal researcher: Luiz Henrique Florindo
• Grantee: Luiz Henrique Florindo
• Home Institution: Instituto de Biociências, Letras e Ciências Exatas (IBILCE). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de São José do Rio Preto. São José do Rio Preto , SP, Brazil
• Assoc. researchers: Carlos Eduardo Neves Girardi

Abstract

The medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) and hippocampal formation (HPC) have well established roles in memory encoding and retrieval. The ventral portion of HPC (CA1 and subiculum) and ventromedial prefrontal cortex (prelimbic PLC and infralimbic CIL cortices) have reciprocal connections involved in the process of acquisition of recent memories (in HPC) and consolidation into remote memories in cortical regions. Recent findings show the existence of functional lateralization in mPFC associated with behaviors that involve anxiety and decision making. However, little is known about the possible lateralization mPFC and HPC as memory modulator. Thus, it is important to look for a greater comprehension of the existing connections between mPFC and HPC so we can better understand the neurobiology of this cognitive function so essential to biological adaptation, and that is often affected in psychiatric disorders highly incidents in population, such as Alzheimer's disease. In this context, this proposal seeks to assess the involvement of the HPC- mPFC circuit in the processing of memory paradigms, and verify the possible functional lateralization of the circuit and its individual parts in these same paradigms. Therefore the proposal will involve experiments with bilateral, right or left inhibition of ventral HPC, CPL, and HPC- CPL circuit in rats submitted to Morris Water Maze (LAM), object recognition and T-maze; and evaluation of the neural activity pattern in the ventral HPC and CPL of rats submitted to LAM for evaluation of recent and remote memory. (AU)