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The hippocampus mediates several higher brain functions, such as learning, memory, and spatial coding. The input region of the hippocampus, the dentate gyrus, plays a critical role in these processes. Several lines of evidence suggest that the dentate gyrus acts as a preprocessor of incoming information, preparing it for subsequent processing in CA3. For example, the dentate gyrus converts input from the entorhinal cortex, where cells have multiple spatial fields, into the spatially more specific place cell activity characteristic of the CA3 region. Furthermore, the dentate gyrus is involved in pattern separation, transforming relatively similar input patterns into substantially different output patterns. Finally, the dentate gyrus produces a very sparse coding scheme in which only a very small fraction of neurons are active at any one time. How are these unique functions implemented at the level of cells and synapses? Dentate gyrus granule cells receive excitatory neuron input from the entorhinal cortex and send excitatory output to the hippocampal CA3 region via the mossy fibers. Furthermore, several types of GABAergic interneurons are present in this region, providing inhibitory control over granule cell activity via feedback and feedforward inhibition. Additionally, hilar mossy cells mediate an excitatory loop, receiving powerful input from a small number of granule cells and providing highly distributed excitatory output to a large number of granule cells. Finally, the dentate gyrus is one of the few brain regions exhibiting adult neurogenesis. Thus, new neurons are generated and functionally integrated throughout life. How these specific cellular and synaptic properties contribute to higher brain functions remains unclear. One way to understand these properties of the dentate gyrus is to try to integrate experimental data into models, following the famous Hopfield quote: "Build it, and you understand it." However, when trying this, one faces two major challenges. First, hard quantitative data about cellular properties, structural connectivity, and functional properties of synapses are lacking. Second, the number of individual neurons and synapses to be represented in the model is huge. For example, the dentate gyrus contains ~1 million granule cells in rodents, and ~10 million in humans. Thus, full scale models will be complex and computationally demanding. In this Frontiers Research Topic, we collect important information about cells, synapses, and microcircuit elements of the dentate gyrus. We have put together a combination of original research articles, review articles, and a methods article. We hope that the collected information will be useful for both experimentalists and modelers. We also hope that the papers will be interesting beyond the small world of "dentology", i.e., for scientists working on other brain areas. Ideally, the dentate gyrus may serve as a blueprint, helping neuroscientists to define strategies to analyze network organization of other brain regions.

Hippocampus (Brain) --- Dentate gyrus. --- Dentate Gyrus --- adult neurogenesis --- mossy fibers --- mossy cells --- granule cells --- mossy fiber synapses --- Hippocampus

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The hippocampus mediates several higher brain functions, such as learning, memory, and spatial coding. The input region of the hippocampus, the dentate gyrus, plays a critical role in these processes. Several lines of evidence suggest that the dentate gyrus acts as a preprocessor of incoming information, preparing it for subsequent processing in CA3. For example, the dentate gyrus converts input from the entorhinal cortex, where cells have multiple spatial fields, into the spatially more specific place cell activity characteristic of the CA3 region. Furthermore, the dentate gyrus is involved in pattern separation, transforming relatively similar input patterns into substantially different output patterns. Finally, the dentate gyrus produces a very sparse coding scheme in which only a very small fraction of neurons are active at any one time. How are these unique functions implemented at the level of cells and synapses? Dentate gyrus granule cells receive excitatory neuron input from the entorhinal cortex and send excitatory output to the hippocampal CA3 region via the mossy fibers. Furthermore, several types of GABAergic interneurons are present in this region, providing inhibitory control over granule cell activity via feedback and feedforward inhibition. Additionally, hilar mossy cells mediate an excitatory loop, receiving powerful input from a small number of granule cells and providing highly distributed excitatory output to a large number of granule cells. Finally, the dentate gyrus is one of the few brain regions exhibiting adult neurogenesis. Thus, new neurons are generated and functionally integrated throughout life. How these specific cellular and synaptic properties contribute to higher brain functions remains unclear. One way to understand these properties of the dentate gyrus is to try to integrate experimental data into models, following the famous Hopfield quote: "Build it, and you understand it." However, when trying this, one faces two major challenges. First, hard quantitative data about cellular properties, structural connectivity, and functional properties of synapses are lacking. Second, the number of individual neurons and synapses to be represented in the model is huge. For example, the dentate gyrus contains ~1 million granule cells in rodents, and ~10 million in humans. Thus, full scale models will be complex and computationally demanding. In this Frontiers Research Topic, we collect important information about cells, synapses, and microcircuit elements of the dentate gyrus. We have put together a combination of original research articles, review articles, and a methods article. We hope that the collected information will be useful for both experimentalists and modelers. We also hope that the papers will be interesting beyond the small world of "dentology", i.e., for scientists working on other brain areas. Ideally, the dentate gyrus may serve as a blueprint, helping neuroscientists to define strategies to analyze network organization of other brain regions.

Hippocampus (Brain) --- Dentate gyrus. --- Dentate Gyrus --- adult neurogenesis --- mossy fibers --- mossy cells --- granule cells --- mossy fiber synapses --- Hippocampus

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Considerable attention has been focused on the role of corticotropin releasing factor (CRF) as well as CRF-binding protein (CRF-BP) in neuropsychiatric disorders and neurodegenerative diseases including epilepsy. Therefore, in the present study, we investigated the temporal and spatial alteration of CRF and CRF-BP in the gerbil hippocampal complex in order to characterize the possible changes and associations with different sequelae of spontaneous seizure in these animals. CRF immunoreactivity was shown in the interneurons of the hippocampal complex at 30 min following seizure. Additionally, alteration of CRF-BP immunoreactivity was restricted to the entorhinal cortex after seizure. These results indicate some factors for consideration. First, in the gerbil hippocampal complex, the delayed increase of CRF immunoreactivity, in spite of its excitatory function, may attenuate seizure activity, but may not do so in epileptogenesis. Second, in contrast to the hippocampl complex, the increase in CRF-BP immunoreactivity in the entorhinal cortex following seizure may participate in feedback inhibitory modulation. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved

Activity. --- Animal. --- Animals. --- Association. --- Attention. --- Behavioral-responses. --- Brain. --- Convulsive seizures. --- Cortex. --- Corticotropin-releasing-factor. --- Crf. --- Dentate gyrus. --- Disease. --- Diseases. --- Disorder. --- Entorhinal cortex. --- Epilepsies. --- Epilepsy. --- Expression. --- Feedback. --- Function. --- Gerbil. --- Hippocampal complex. --- Hippocampal. --- Hippocampus. --- Immunoreactive neurons. --- Immunoreactivity. --- Increase. --- Kainate-elicited seizures. --- Modulation. --- Mongolian gerbil. --- Protein. --- Rat. --- Seizure. --- Somatostatin. --- Spatial. --- Spontaneous seizure. --- Subiculum. --- Synaptic connections. --- Time.

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We evaluated whether environmental enrichment-related effects on the development of stereotyped behavior in deer mice were associated with alterations in dendritic morphology. Deer mice were reared under enriched or standard housing conditions and then tested in automated photocell detectors and classified as stereotypic or nonstereotypic. Dendritic morphology was assessed in layer V pyramidal neurons of the motor cortex, medium spiny neurons of the dorsolateral striatum, and granule cells of the dentate gyrus using Golgi-Cox histochemistry. Enriched nonstereotypic mice exhibited significantly higher dendritic spine densities in the motor cortex and the striatum than enriched stereotypic or standard-cage mice. Significant increases in dendritic arborization following environmental enrichment also were observed. These results suggest that the enrichment-related prevention of stereotyped behavior is associated with increased dendritic spine density. (C) 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc

Amphetamine. --- Bank voles. --- Behavior. --- Complex environments. --- Cortex. --- Deer mice. --- Deer. --- Density. --- Dentate gyrus. --- Development. --- Differential experience. --- Enriched. --- Enrichment. --- Environmental enrichment. --- Frontal-cortex. --- Golgi-cox,repetitive behavior,deer mice,brain. --- Housing conditions. --- Housing. --- Increase. --- Increases. --- Mice. --- Morphology. --- Neurons. --- Plasticity. --- Prevention. --- Rat-brain. --- Sex-differences. --- Stereotyped behavior. --- Stereotypic. --- Striatum.

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The aim of this study was to test whether environmental enrichment alters the status and responsiveness of pituitary-adrenocortical and sympathetic-adrenomedullary hormones in rats. Previous studies have shown that rats kept in an enriched environment differ from those kept in standard cages in dendritic branching, synaptogenesis, memory function, emotionality and behaviour. In male Wistar rats kept in an enriched environment for 40 days, we studied basal concentrations of hormones, endocrine responses to 5-HT1A challenge and responsiveness and adaptation to repeated handling. Environmental enrichment consisted of large plexiglass cages with 10 rats per cage, which contained variety of objects exchanged three times a week. Rats kept in this enriched environment had higher resting plasma concentrations of corticosterone, larger adrenals and increased corticosterone release to buspirone challenge compared to controls. Lower adrenocorticotropic hormone, corticosterone and adrenaline responses to handling were noticed in rats kept in an enriched environment. Exposure to repeated handling led to a more rapid extinction of corticosterone responses in rats kept in an enriched environment. Thus, environmental enrichment leads to pronounced changes in neuroendocrine regulation, including larger adrenals and increased adrenocortical function, which are so far considered to be indication of chronic stress

Adaptation. --- Adrenal gland. --- Adrenal. --- Adrenocortical. --- Alters. --- Behaviour. --- Brain chemistry. --- Brain. --- Cage. --- Cerebral-cortex. --- Chronic stress. --- Control. --- Corticosteroids. --- Corticosterone. --- Dentate gyrus. --- Emotionality. --- Endocrine. --- Enriched environment. --- Enriched. --- Enrichment. --- Environment. --- Environmental enrichment. --- Exposure. --- Extinction. --- Function. --- Handling. --- Hippocampus. --- Hormone. --- Hormones. --- Increases. --- Kept. --- Male. --- Memory. --- Mice. --- Neuroendocrine. --- Object. --- Objects. --- Pituitary-adrenal axis. --- Plasma-catecholamine. --- Plasma. --- Rat. --- Rats. --- Regulation. --- Release. --- Response. --- Responses. --- Serotonin. --- Stress. --- System. --- Systems. --- Test. --- Time. --- Wistar rats.