The rat perirhinal cortex: A review of anatomy, physiology, plasticity, and function
Highlights
► The Perirhinal cortex, anatomy, neurotransmission and electrophysiological properties. ► The perirhinal cortex and its projections. ► Function: Object recognition, fear conditioning, context and spatial memory.
Introduction
The perirhinal cortex is considered along with the entorhinal and postrhinal cortices as an integral part of the parahippocampal formation. It contributes both direct and indirect (via the entorhinal cortex) projections to the hippocampus as well as being one of its main output structures. The perirhinal cortex is therefore pivotal in the processing of information into and out of the hippocampal region. Although, there have been a number of reviews that have specifically examined the anatomy (e.g. Burwell, 2001, van Strien et al., 2010) and functional roles of the perirhinal cortex (Dere et al., 2007, Winters et al., 2008, Warburton and Brown, 2010), to date, there has been no review that brings anatomy, physiology, synaptic plasticity and function of the perirhinal cortex together. Here we attempt to bring these different strands together and also examine how the perirhinal cortex fits within the general hippocampal–parahippocampal circuitry with particular emphasis on the electrophysiological properties of these connections.
Section snippets
Anatomical definition of the perirhinal cortex
In the rat brain, the perirhinal cortex is located along the rhinal sulcus and it is composed of Brodmann's areas 35 and 36 (Brodmann, 1909), although later studies defined the perirhinal cortex as area 35 only (Krieg, 1946a). Area 36 occupies the dorsal bank of the rhinal sulcus and area 35 occupies the ventral bank, extending slightly more rostrally than area 36 (Burwell, 2001). It is bordered rostrally by the posterior agranular insular cortex (bordering with areas 35 and 36) and the
Cortical projections
Aside from the components of the hippocampal–parahippocampal network (see Section 3.3), there exists a number of projections to the perirhinal cortex from other cortical areas; namely the precentral, cingulate, parietal, frontal, piriform, insular, prelimbic, infralimbic, periamygdaloid, visual association and auditory cortices (Fig. 2a; Saper, 1982, Deacon et al., 1983, Wyss and Van Groen, 1992, Burwell and Amaral, 1998b, Haberly, 2001, Naber et al., 2001a, Naber et al., 2001b, Majak and
Implications of segregation and functionality
Examination of the anatomical and electrophysiological properties of the perirhinal cortex reveals that segregation exists both within the structure, within a parahippocampal–hippocampal network, and between the perirhinal cortex and other cortical/subcortical structures. Unfortunately, many of the lesion and IEG experiments do not take these segregations into account, thereby attributing a particular function to the perirhinal rather than considering this structure (or indeed subregions of
Conclusions
This review brings together research encompassing the anatomical nature of the perirhinal cortex, its projections and connectivity, the physiological and plastic properties of the projections, and its role in perception, object recognition, fear conditioning and spatial and/or contextual memory. In addition, we emphasise the idea of an anatomical and electrophysiological segregation. The perirhinal cortex should be considered in terms of segregation within the structure itself, as part of a
Acknowledgement
Science Foundation Ireland (SFI).
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