Open AccessProgressive entorhinal cortex lesions accelerate hippocampal sprouting and spare spatial memory in rats
Author(s) -
Julio J. Ramirez,
Meredith McQuilkin,
Timothy A. Carrigan,
K. Macdonald,
Melinda S. Kelley
Publication year - 1996
Publication title -
proceedings of the national academy of sciences of the united states of america
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1091-6490
pISSN - 0027-8424
DOI - 10.1073/pnas.93.26.15512
Subject(s) - entorhinal cortex , perforant path , hippocampal formation , dentate gyrus , sprouting , neuroscience , perforant pathway , hippocampus , lesion , biology , medicine , pathology , botany
Accelerating hippocampal sprouting by making unilateral progressive lesions of the entorhinal cortex spared the spatial memory of rats tested for retention of a learned alternation task. Subsequent transection of the sprouted crossed temporodentate pathway (CTD), as well as a simultaneous CTD transection and progressive entorhinal lesion, produced a persistent deficit on the memory task. These results suggest that CTD sprouting, which is homologous to the original perforant path input to the dentate gyrus of the hippocampus, is behaviorally significant and can ameliorate at least some of the memory deficits associated with hippocampal deafferentation.