Distinct Spatiotemporal Activation Patterns of the Perirhinal-Entorhinal Network in Response to Cortical and Amygdala Input

The perirhinal (PER) and entorhinal cortex (EC) receive input from the agranular insular cortex (AiP) and the subcortical lateral amygdala (LA) and the main output area is the hippocampus. Information transfer through the PER/EC network however, is not always guaranteed. It is hypothesized that this network actively regulates the (sub)cortical activity transfer to the hippocampal network and that the inhibitory system is involved in this function. This study determined the recruitment by the AiP and LA afferents in PER/EC network with the use of voltage sensitive dye (VSD) imaging in horizontal mouse brain slices. Electrical stimulation (500 μA) of the AiP induced activity that gradually propagated predominantly in the rostro-caudal direction: from the PER to the lateral EC (LEC). In the presence of 1 μM of the competitive γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA(A)) receptor antagonist bicuculline, AiP stimulation recruited the medial EC (MEC) as well. In contrast, LA stimulation (500 μA) only induced activity in the deep layers of the PER. In the presence of bicuculline, the initial population activity in the PER propagated further towards the superficial layers and the EC after a delay. The latency of evoked responses decreased with increasing stimulus intensities (50–500 μA) for both the AiP and LA stimuli. The stimulation threshold for evoking responses in the PER/EC network was higher for the LA than for the AiP. This study showed that the extent of the PER/EC network activation depends on release of inhibition. When GABA(A) dependent inhibition is reduced, both the AiP and the LA activate spatially overlapping regions, although in a distinct spatiotemporal fashion. It is therefore hypothesized that the inhibitory network regulates excitatory activity from both cortical and subcortical areas that has to be transmitted through the PER/EC network.