How do sensory systems interact with the hippocampus in the formation of synaptic plasticity and spatial memory? (B01)

• Subject Area: Cognitive, Systems and Behavioural Neurobiology
• Term: from 2010 to 2022
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 122679504

To enable the generation of a cognitive engram, the hippocampus must process multiple sensory modalities that are transferred to this structure by means of the entorhinal cortex. In the current funding period we scrutinised how olfactory information is processed by the piriform cortex (PC) and delivered to the hippocampus for subsequent encoding. Our finding that the piriform cortex resists expressing synaptic plasticity has motivated us to scrutinise the precise circuitry of the piriform cortex in the upcoming funding period. To what extent the piriform cortex can directly initiate hippocampal plasticity will also be explored. We will do this by integrating in vivo electrophysiological recordings from the hippocampus and the piriform cortex of learning rodents with optogenetics, functional in situ hybridisation and functional MRI in rodents.

• DFG Programme: Collaborative Research Centres
• Subproject of: SFB 874: Integration and Representation of Sensory Processes
• Applicant Institution: Ruhr-Universität Bochum
• Project Head: Professorin Dr. Denise Manahan-Vaughan