THE HIPPOCAMPO-PREFRONTAL CORTEX PATHWAY IN THE RAT:
MULTI-APPROACHES DATA FOR RESEARCH PERSPECTIVES

The hippocampus and the prefrontal cortex are similarly critical in various aspects of cognition. Therefore, a lot of studies focused on the communication between these two neural substrates. The hippocampo-prefrontal connexion of the rat is now well documented through anatomical, electrophysiological and behavioural approaches. These studies all reveal the complexity of this pathway and therefore underlie the complexity of the involvement of the hippocampus and the prefrontal cortex in cognition through many aspects, such as the regional (subregional) distribution, the cognitive demand of the task (nature and degree), the temporal aspect (from the different times in a given cognitive task, to long-term mechanisms such as the consolidation), and pharmacological influences (dopamine concentrations). We will review the different approaches to recall the latest knowledge about the hippocampo-prefrontal pathway, and aim at guiding new research perspectives towards the functional regionalisation of the medial prefrontal cortex and the involvement of the dopamine in its cognitive function in rodents.

1) Anatomical and electrophysiological characteristics of the hippocampo-prefrontal pathway:

Due to the critical implication of both of the hippocampus and the prefrontal cortex in various cognitive processes, the detailed anatomical description of the hippocampo-prefrontal pathway appears to be fundamental to lead further any complementary electrophysiological, pharmacological and behavioural studies, with the aim of determining the nature of their functional implication in cognition.

The different subregions involved in the hippocampo-prefrontal cortex pathway:
The anatomical relationships between the different substrates have been investigated a lot using anterograde and retrograde tracers. The latters allowed to provide the evidence of the complex