CONICET | Buscador de Institutos y Recursos Humanos

The ventral hippocampus (vHP) is connected to medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) by a monosynaptic unidirectional projection that is known to be altered in psychiatric disorderssuch as schizophrenia. The vHP-mPFC connection is thoughtto provide contextual information to the mPFC, and it playsa key role in the modulation of emotional behaviors such asfear and anxiety. However, it is still unknown how the interaction between the vHP and mPFC may allow the acquisitionof relevant contextual information and regulate exploratorybehaviors. It is well established that prominent theta oscillations emerge in the hippocampus during environmentalexploration, and this rhythm impacts on mPFC activity.Our ongoing project focuses to understand the role of thevHP-mPFC interaction in mice performing exploratorybehaviors. We aim to record simultaneously from themPFC and vHP in mice performing a battery of exploratorytasks with different degrees of cognitive loads. We will analyze the correlation between vHP and mPFC activity and thephase locking of mPFC spikes to the hippocampal thetarhythm. We expect to find an increase in the vHP-mPFCinteraction during stages of exploratory tasks where a highlevel of contextual information integration is required. Thisaugmented vHP-mPFC interaction will be evidenced as anincrease in the number of synchronized prefrontal units tothe hippocampal theta rhythm and in the strength of thissynchronization