Dentate gyrus in the context of "Trisynaptic circuit"

In neuroanatomy, a neural pathway is the connection formed by axons that project from neurons to make synapses onto neurons in another location, to enable neurotransmission (the sending of a signal from one region of the nervous system to another). Neurons are connected by a single axon, or by a bundle of axons known as a nerve tract, or fasciculus. Shorter neural pathways are found within grey matter in the brain, whereas longer projections, made up of myelinated axons, constitute white matter.

In the hippocampus, there are neural pathways involved in its circuitry including the perforant pathway, that provides a connectional route from the entorhinal cortex to all fields of the hippocampal formation, including the dentate gyrus, all CA fields (including CA1), and the subiculum.

The hippocampus (pl.: hippocampi; via Latin from Greek ἱππόκαμπος, 'seahorse'), also hippocampus proper, is a major component of the brain of humans and many other vertebrates. In the human brain the hippocampus, the dentate gyrus, and the subiculum are components of the hippocampal formation located in the limbic system. The hippocampus plays important roles in the consolidation of information from short-term memory to long-term memory, and in spatial memory that enables navigation. In humans and other primates the hippocampus is located in the archicortex, one of the three regions of allocortex, in each hemisphere with direct neural projections to, and reciprocal indirect projections from the neocortex. The hippocampus, as the medial pallium, is a structure found in all vertebrates.

In Alzheimer's disease (and other forms of dementia), the hippocampus is one of the first regions of the brain to be damaged; short-term memory loss and disorientation are included among the early symptoms. Damage to the hippocampus can also result from oxygen starvation (hypoxia), encephalitis, or medial temporal lobe epilepsy. People with extensive, bilateral hippocampal damage may experience anterograde amnesia: the inability to form and retain new memories.

In the brain, the perforant path or perforant pathway provides a connectional route from the entorhinal cortex to all fields of the hippocampal formation, including the dentate gyrus, all CA fields (including CA1), and the subiculum.

Though it arises mainly from entorhinal layers II and III, the perforant path comprises a smaller component that originates in deep layers V and VI.There is a major dichotomy with respect to the laminar origin and related terminal distribution: neurons in layer II (and possibly layer VI) project to the dentate gyrus and CA3, whereas layer III (and possibly layer V) cells project to CA1 and the subiculum via the temporoammonic pathway.

The hippocampal formation is a compound structure in the medial temporal lobe of the brain. It forms a c-shaped bulge on the floor of the inferior horn of the lateral ventricle. Typically, the hippocampal formation is said to included the dentate gyrus, the hippocampus, and the subiculum. The presubiculum, parasubiculum, and the entorhinal cortex may also be included. The hippocampal formation is thought to play a role in memory, spatial navigation and control of attention. The neural layout and pathways within the hippocampal formation are very similar in all mammals.

The hippocampal subfields are four subfields CA1, CA2, CA3, and CA4 that make up the structure of the hippocampus. Regions described in the hippocampus are the head, body, and tail, and other hippocampal subfields include the dentate gyrus, the presubiculum, and the subiculum. The CA subfields use the initials of cornu ammonis, an earlier name of the hippocampus.

The limbic lobe is an arc-shaped cortical region of the limbic system, on the medial surface of each cerebral hemisphere of the mammalian brain, consisting of parts of the frontal, parietal and temporal lobes. The term is ambiguous, with some authors including the paraterminal gyrus, the subcallosal area, the cingulate gyrus, the parahippocampal gyrus, the dentate gyrus, the hippocampus and the subiculum;

The uncus is an anterior extremity of the parahippocampal gyrus. It is separated from the apex of the temporal lobe by a sulcus called the rhinal sulcus.Although superficially continuous with the hippocampal gyrus, the uncus forms morphologically a part of the rhinencephalon.

An important landmark that crosses the inferior surface of the uncus is the band of Giacomini or tail of the dentate gyrus.

The entorhinal cortex (EC) is a major part of the hippocampal formation of the brain, and is reciprocally connected with the hippocampus.

The hippocampal formation, which consists of the hippocampus, perirhinal cortex, the dentate gyrus, the subicular areas and the EC forms one of the most important parts of the limbic system. The entorhinal cortex is an infolding of the parahippocampal gyrus into the inferior (temporal) horn of the lateral ventricle.