Ventral Hippocampus: Features of Functional Organization
A special issue of Biology (ISSN 2079-7737). This special issue belongs to the section "Neuroscience".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 December 2024) | Viewed by 872
Special Issue Editor
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
The hippocampus is an elongated brain structure that plays a pivotal role in fundamental brain functions such as learning, memory, navigation, and emotionality. The hippocampus is also implicated in neurological, neuropsychiatric, and neurodevelopmental conditions including anxiety disorders, epilepsy, schizophrenia, and fragile X syndrome.
Along the long axis of the hippocampus three consecutive segments can be roughly distinguished, each of them occupying about a third of the structure: a dorsal (septal), an intermediate, and a ventral (temporal) segment. The distinction between the successive segments of the hippocampus is based mainly on their anatomical connections with extrahippocampal structures and their different involvement in various brain functions.
Although most of the research on the hippocampus has been carried out on the dorsal hippocampus, research during the last few decades has revealed a wide repertoire of functions in which the ventral hippocampus is profoundly involved, including social memory, anxiety, context-dependent fear, and decision making. Furthermore, the ventral hippocampus is preferentially involved in depression, schizophrenia, epilepsy, and autism. Interestingly, recent accumulated evidence shows that the segregation of functions along the hippocampus is accompanied by substantial diversification at the molecular and cellular levels along the hippocampus. Comparisons between the two extreme segments of the hippocampus, i.e., the ventral and dorsal, have revealed notable features of an intrinsic ventral hippocampus circuit, including increased excitability, narrower range of activity-dependent synaptic plasticity, and relatively high levels of several neuromodulators.
The specializations of the intrinsic organization of the ventral hippocampus are expected to significantly support its functional demands. Therefore, elucidating the details of this organization will help us understanding how this segment of the hippocampus processes information and will gradually contribute to the understanding of how this organization supports ventral hippocampus-dependent functions. Furthermore, revealing the mechanisms underlying the specific roles that the ventral hippocampus plays in neurological, psychiatric, and neurodevelopmental disorders will advance our ability to design new therapeutic strategies for the treatment of disorders involving the ventral hippocampus.
Prof. Dr. Costas Papatheodoropoulos
Guest Editor
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Keywords
- hippocampus
- neurophysiology
- synaptic transmission
- synaptic plasticity
- neurochemistry
- neuromodulation
- behavior
- oscillations
- neuropsychiatric disorders
- neurodevelopmental disorders
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