A quantitative computational theory of the operation of the hippocampal CA3 system as an autoassociation or attractor network used in episodic memory system is described. In this theory, the CA3 system operates as a single attractor or autoassociation network to enable rapid, one-trial, associations between any spatial location (place in rodents, or spatial view in primates) and an object or re...

Chronic stress an/or glucocorticoid administration produces atrophy of hippocampal neurons. However, evidence of the impact of glucocorticoids on glial cells, especially in both males and females, is limited. In the present study, we investigated the total percentage body weight, hippocampal volume and hippocampal astrocyte numbers following chronic corticosterone treatment in male and female W...

Hippocampal region CA3 contains strong recurrent excitation mediated by synapses of the longitudinal association fibers. These recurrent excitatory connections may play a dominant role in determining the information processing characteristics of this region. However, they result in feedback dynamics that may cause both runaway excitatory activity and runaway synaptic modification. Previous mode...

Stress affects the hippocampus, a brain region crucial for memory. In rodents, acute stress may reduce density of dendritic spines, the location of postsynaptic elements of excitatory synapses, and impair long-term potentiation and memory. Steroid stress hormones and neurotransmitters have been implicated in the underlying mechanisms, but the role of corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH), a hyp...

The hippocampal mossy fibers, which originate from the dentate granule cells, develop mainly in the early postnatal period and are involved in numerous pathological processes. In this study, hippocampal slices prepared from premature rats were cultivated in the presence of convulsants to evaluate the influences of epileptiform activities on mossy fiber ontogeny. Electrophysiological and histoch...

Mitochondria are cellular organelles crucial for energy supply and calcium homeostasis in neuronal cells, and their dysfunction causes seizure activity in some rare human epilepsies. To directly test whether mitochondrial respiratory chain enzymes are abnormal in the most common form of chronic epilepsy, temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE), living human brain specimens from 57 epileptic patients and 2...

The hippocampal CA3 area, an associational network implicated in memory function, receives monosynaptic excitatory as well as disynaptic inhibitory input through the mossy-fiber axons of the dentate granule cells. Synapses made by mossy fibers exhibit low release probability, resulting in high failure rates at resting discharge frequencies of 0.1 Hz. In recordings from functionally connected pa...

The selective hyperpolarization-activated cyclic nucleotide-gated (HCN) channel blocker 4-(N-ethyl-N-phenylamino)-1,2-dimethyl-6-(methylamino) pyrimidinium chloride (ZD7288) blocks the induction of long-term potentiation in the perforant path-CA3 region in rat hippocampus in vivo. To explore the mechanisms underlying the action of ZD7288, we recorded excitatory postsynaptic potentials in perfor...