Time-dependent relationship between the dorsal hippocampus and the prefrontal cortex in spatial memory.

TLDR: It is reported that the dorsal hippocampus and the medial prefrontal cortex process short-term spatial memory in parallel, serving as a compensatory mechanism for each other, indicating that the time window of memory is a key factor in dissociating multiple memory systems.

Abstract: The prefrontal cortex and the dorsal hippocampus have been studied extensively for their significant roles in spatial working memory. A possible time-dependent functional relationship between the prefrontal cortex and the dorsal hippocampus in spatial working memory was tested. A combined lesion and pharmacological inactivation technique targeting both the dorsal hippocampus and the medial prefrontal cortex was used (i.e., axon-sparing lesions of the dorsal hippocampus combined with reversible inactivation of the medial prefrontal cortex, or vice versa, within a subject). A delayed nonmatching-to-place task on a radial eight-arm maze with short-term (i.e., 10 sec) versus intermediate-term (i.e., 5 min) delays was used as a behavioral paradigm. Here we report that the dorsal hippocampus and the medial prefrontal cortex process short-term spatial memory in parallel, serving as a compensatory mechanism for each other. The role of the dorsal hippocampus, however, becomes highlighted as the time-window for memory (i.e., delay) shifts from short-term to a delay period (i.e., intermediate-term) exceeding the short-term range. The results indicate that the time window of memory is a key factor in dissociating multiple memory systems.