Hippocampal circuit dysfunction in the Tc1 mouse model of Down syndrome

Hippocampal pathology is likely to contribute to cognitive disability in Down syndrome (DS), yet the neural network basis of this pathology and its contributions to different facets of cognitive impairment remain unclear. Here, we report dysfunctional connectivity between dentate gyrus (DG) and CA3 networks in the transchromosomic Tc1 mouse model of DS, demonstrating that ultrastructural abnormalities and impaired short-term plasticity at DG-CA3 excitatory synapses culminate in impaired coding of novel spatial information in CA3 and CA1 and disrupted behaviour in vivo. These results highlight the vulnerability of DG-CA3 networks to aberrant human chromosome 21 gene expression, and delineate hippocampal circuit abnormalities likely to contribute to distinct cognitive phenotypes in DS.