Traumatic Brain Injury Preserves Firing Rates But Disrupts Laminar Oscillatory Coupling and Neuronal Entrainment in Hippocampal CA1

While hippocampal-dependent learning and memory are particularly vulnerable to traumatic brain injury (TBI), the functional status of individual hippocampal neurons and their interactions with oscillations are unknown following injury. Using the most common rodent TBI model and laminar recordings in CA1, we found a significant reduction in oscillatory input into the radiatum layer of CA1 after TBI. Surprisingly, CA1 neurons maintained normal firing rates despite attenuated input, but did not maintain appropriate synchronization with this oscillatory input or with local high-frequency oscillations. Normal synchronization between these coordinating oscillations was also impaired. Simultaneous recordings of medial septal neurons known to participate in theta oscillations revealed increased GABAergic/glutamatergic firing rates postinjury under anesthesia, potentially because of a loss of modulating feedback from the hippocampus. These results suggest that TBI leads to a profound disruption of connectivity and oscillatory interactions, potentially disrupting the timing of CA1 neuronal ensembles that underlie aspects of learning and memory.