Archicortex in the context of "Hippocampus"

The allocortex (from Latin allo-, meaning other, and cortex, meaning bark or crust), or heterogenetic cortex, is one of the two types of cerebral cortex in the brain, together with the neocortex. In the human brain, the allocortex is the much smaller area of cortex taking up just 10%; the neocortex takes up the remaining 90%. It is characterized by having just three cortical layers (one main neural layer), in contrast with the six cortical layers of the neocortex. There are three subtypes of allocortex: the paleocortex, the archicortex, and the periallocortex—a transitional zone between the neocortex and the allocortex.

The specific regions of the brain usually described as belonging to the allocortex are the olfactory system and the hippocampus.

In anatomy of animals, the paleocortex, or paleopallium, is a region within the telencephalon in the vertebrate brain. This type of cortical tissue consists of three cortical laminae (layers of neuronal cell bodies). In comparison, the neocortex has six layers and the archicortex has three or four layers. Because the number of laminae that compose a type of cortical tissue seems to be directly proportional to both the information-processing capabilities of that tissue and its phylogenetic age, paleocortex is thought to be an intermediate between the archicortex (or archipallium) and the neocortex (or neopallium) in both aspects.

The paleocortex (or paleopallium) and the archicortex (or the archipallium) of the cerebral cortex together constitute the mammalian allocortex or the heterogenetic cortex. The distinction for what is called neocortex or isocortex, which comprises most of the human brain (about 90%), is made from the number of cellular layers that the structure comprises. Neocortical tissue comprises six distinct cell layers, not seen in paleocortical tissues either in adult or developing stage.

Periallocortex is one of three subtypes of allocortex, the other two subtypes being paleocortex and archicortex. The periallocortex is formed at transition areas where any of the other two subtypes of allocortex borders with the neocortex (which is also called isocortex).

Thus, the periallocortex is also subdivided to two subtypes. One subtype is called peripaleocortex, which is formed at borders between paleocortex and neocortex. Areas considered to belong to peripaleocortex are for example anterior insular cortex. Another subtype of periallocortex is called periarchicortex. It is formed at borders between archicortex and neocortex. Areas considered to belong to periarchicortex include entorhinal cortex, perirhinal cortex, presubiculum, parasubiculum, retrosplenial cortex, subcallosal area and subgenual area.

Periarchicortex is one of two subtypes of periallocortex, the other being peripaleocortex. It is formed at borders between archicortex (a subtype of allocortex) and isocortex and shows slow histological transition from the four-layered structure typical for archicortex to the six-layered structure typical for isocortex.

Cortical areas that are generally considered to belong to periarchicortex, include presubiculum, parasubiculum, entorhinal cortex, perirhinal cortex, retrosplenial cortex, periarchicortical part of cingulate cortex, posterior part of subcallosal area, and subgenual area.