In the rodent, the parasubiculum is a retrohippocampal isocortical structure, and a major component of the subicular complex. It receives numerous subcortical and cortical inputs, and sends major projections to the superficial layers of the
entorhinal cortex (Amaral & Witter, 1995).
The parasubicular area is a transitional zone between the
presubiculum and the
entorhinal area in the
mouse
A mouse ( : mice) is a small rodent. Characteristically, mice are known to have a pointed snout, small rounded ears, a body-length scaly tail, and a high breeding rate. The best known mouse species is the common house mouse (''Mus musculus' ...
(Paxinos-2001), the
rat
Rats are various medium-sized, long-tailed rodents. Species of rats are found throughout the order Rodentia, but stereotypical rats are found in the genus ''Rattus''. Other rat genera include '' Neotoma'' ( pack rats), '' Bandicota'' (bandico ...
(Swanson, 1998) and the
primate
Primates are a diverse order (biology), order of mammals. They are divided into the Strepsirrhini, strepsirrhines, which include the lemurs, galagos, and lorisids, and the Haplorhini, haplorhines, which include the Tarsiiformes, tarsiers and ...
(Zilles, 1990). Defined on the basis of
cytoarchitecture
Cytoarchitecture ( Greek '' κύτος''= "cell" + '' ἀρχιτεκτονική''= "architecture"), also known as cytoarchitectonics, is the study of the cellular composition of the central nervous system's tissues under the microscope. Cytoarc ...
, it is more similar to the presubiculum than to the entorhinal area (Zilles, 1990), however electrophysiological evidence suggests a similarity with the entorhinal cortex (Funahashi and Stewart, 1997; Glasgow & Chapman, 2007). To be specific, cells in this area are modulated by local
theta rhythm
Theta waves generate the theta rhythm, a neural oscillation in the brain that underlies various aspects of cognition and behavior, including learning, memory, and spatial navigation in many animals. It can be recorded using various electrophysio ...
, and display theta-frequency membrane potential oscillations (Glasgow & Chapman, 2007; Taube, 1995). Furthermore, cells in the parasubiculum, and neighboring
presubiculum, fire in relation to the animal's location in space, suggesting properties similar to
place cells. It is postulated that this area may play an integral role in spatial navigation and the integration of head-directional information (Chrobak & Buzsáki, 1994; Taube, 1995).
See also
*
Brodmann area
A Brodmann area is a region of the cerebral cortex, in the human or other primate brain, defined by its cytoarchitecture, or histological structure and organization of cells.
History
Brodmann areas were originally defined and numbered by ...
References
*Amaral, D. G., & Witter, M. P. (1995). "Hippocampal Formation". In G. Paxinos & C. Watson (Eds.), ''The rat brain in sterotaxic coordinates'' (3rd ed.). San Diego: Academic Press.
*Chrobak, J. J., & Buzsáki, G. (1994). "Selective activation of deep layer (V-VI) retrohippocampal cortical neurons during hippocampal sharp waves in the behaving rat". J Neurosci, 14(10), 6160–6170.
*Funahashi, M., & Stewart, M. (1997). "Presubicular and parasubicular cortical neurons of the rat: electrophysiological and morphological properties". ''Hippocampus'', 1997;7(2):117-29.
*Glasgow, S. D., & Chapman, C. A. (2007). "Local generation of theta-frequency EEG activity in the parasubiculum". J Neurophys, .
*Taube, J. S. (1995). "Place cells recorded in the parasubiculum of freely moving rats". ''Hippocampus'', 5(6), 569–583.
*Zilles, K., Wree, A., and Dausch, N. D. (1990) "Anatomy of the neocortex. Neurochemical organization", In: B.F. Kolb and R.C. Tees (eds.) ''The Cerebral Cortex of the Rat'', 113–150. MIT Press, Cambridge.
External links
* For Neuroanatomy of this area visi
BrainInfo
49
{{neuroanatomy-stub