TY - JOUR
T1 - Entorhinal Cortical Ocean Cells Encode Specific Contexts and Drive Context-Specific Fear Memory
AU - Kitamura, Takashi
AU - Sun, Chen
AU - Martin, Jared
AU - Kitch, Lacey J.
AU - Schnitzer, Mark J.
AU - Tonegawa, Susumu
N1 - Funding Information:
We thank A. Hamalian, C. Ragion, D. Roy, L. Smith, K. Kohara, M. Ragion, S. Perry, C. Puryear, and W. Yu for experimental help; X. Liu for providing AAV2/9-TRE-mCherry virus; J. Young and T. Okuyama for helpful discussions and comments; L. Brenner for paper preparation; and the members of Tonegawa lab for their support. This work was supported by the RIKEN Brain Science Institute (to S.T.), Howard Hughes Medical Institute (to S.T.), the Picower Institute Innovation Fund (to S.T.), and The JPB Foundation (to T.K.). L.J.K. was supported by an NSF graduate fellowship.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2015 Elsevier Inc.
PY - 2015/9/23
Y1 - 2015/9/23
N2 - Forming distinct representations and memories of multiple contexts and episodes is thought to be a crucial function of the hippocampal-entorhinal cortical network. The hippocampal dentate gyrus (DG) and CA3 are known to contribute to these functions, but the role of the entorhinal cortex (EC) is poorly understood. Here, we show that Ocean cells, excitatory stellate neurons in the medial EC layer II projecting into DG and CA3, rapidly form a distinct representation of a novel context and drive context-specific activation of downstream CA3 cells as well as context-specific fear memory. In contrast, Island cells, excitatory pyramidal neurons in the medial EC layer II projecting into CA1, are indifferent to context-specific encoding or memory. On the other hand, Ocean cells are dispensable for temporal association learning, for which Island cells are crucial. Together, the two excitatory medial EC layer II inputs to the hippocampus have complementary roles in episodic memory. Kitamura et al. found that entorhinal cortical Ocean cells, which project directly to hippocampal dentate gyrus and CA3, rapidly form distinct representations of different contextual environments, and are crucial for the context-specific activation of CA3 cells and context-specific fear memory.
AB - Forming distinct representations and memories of multiple contexts and episodes is thought to be a crucial function of the hippocampal-entorhinal cortical network. The hippocampal dentate gyrus (DG) and CA3 are known to contribute to these functions, but the role of the entorhinal cortex (EC) is poorly understood. Here, we show that Ocean cells, excitatory stellate neurons in the medial EC layer II projecting into DG and CA3, rapidly form a distinct representation of a novel context and drive context-specific activation of downstream CA3 cells as well as context-specific fear memory. In contrast, Island cells, excitatory pyramidal neurons in the medial EC layer II projecting into CA1, are indifferent to context-specific encoding or memory. On the other hand, Ocean cells are dispensable for temporal association learning, for which Island cells are crucial. Together, the two excitatory medial EC layer II inputs to the hippocampus have complementary roles in episodic memory. Kitamura et al. found that entorhinal cortical Ocean cells, which project directly to hippocampal dentate gyrus and CA3, rapidly form distinct representations of different contextual environments, and are crucial for the context-specific activation of CA3 cells and context-specific fear memory.
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U2 - 10.1016/j.neuron.2015.08.036
DO - 10.1016/j.neuron.2015.08.036
M3 - Article
C2 - 26402611
AN - SCOPUS:84942134704
SN - 0896-6273
VL - 87
SP - 1317
EP - 1331
JO - Neuron
JF - Neuron
IS - 6
ER -