When you look at a textbook diagram hippocampus, one sees a series of subfields - DG, CA3, and CA1. All of these regions have specialized properties relative to one another. But it raises the question: within each region, are the cell types uniform?
CA1 pyramidal cells of the rodent brain, one of the most studied neuron types in the brain, provide a good starting point to answer this question from both structural and functional perspectives.
CA1 pyramidal cells occupy a region of the š brain that resembles two bananas joined by a common stalk. This 3-dimensional geometry presents 3 axes to study spatial variation of cell-type identity: proximal-distal, superficial-deep, and dorsal-ventral.
Work dating back to Lorente de No showed that CA1 pyramidal cells along the proximal-distal axis could be divided into subregions (CA1c, CA1b, CA1a) based upon morphological criteria, but noted that differences tended to be graded rather than absolute.
In recent work, this graded difference in proximal-distal properties is recapitulated by gene expression, long-range circuit connectivity, and functional properties like spatial and temporal tuning.
Of note, such graded heterogeneity also manifests in dorsal-ventral axes and superficial-deep axes, in both structure and function. Thus, CA1 pyramidal cells are a markedly heterogeneous group of neurons that spatially vary in 3 dimensions.
These "within-cell-type" differences are not exclusive to CA1 cells: both CA3 pyramidal cells and dentate gyrus granule cells exhibit spatially patterned heterogeneity, although this heterogeneity can exhibit relatively discrete subdomains.
In collection, this degree of heterogeneity within "textbook" cells types of the hippocampus may give rise to dissociable streams of information, and help drive the wide variety of functions and behaviours involving the hippocampus.
Is anyone planning to do some reading about hippocampal neuroanatomy over the holidays?
If you answered, "yes", this week's #SubfieldWednesday is for you! We will give you a list of "must read" atlas references about our favorite brain structure. š¤ā£ļø
Hello and happy #SubfieldWednesday! Today we are going to get a bit more familiar with how the hippocampal subfields differ in their composition of different cell types, cell sizes, and layer thickness. š¤š¬
Here are some images taken from five different hippocampal subfields (CA1, CA2, CA3, dentate gyrus, and subiculum). Can you tell which number corresponds to which subfield? š¤
Because a Nissl stain was applied to these slices, the cell bodies appear dark purple. This allows neuroanatomists to characterize the size, shape, and relative spacing of the cells.
This quiz even stumped some of us at @hipposubfields headquarters! We had to contact a neuroanatomist to confirm which answer is correct! (or at least "the most correct")
Braak and Braak (1985) originally described the transentorhinal cortex as a 'transition region between entorhinal cortex and temporal isocortex. This rules out answer A (part of ERC)
Hello subfield-fans! Last week's #SubfieldWednesday topic was the layered composition of the hippocampal subfields. We learned that the subfields contain three major cellular layers which makes them a part of the allocortex.