CA1 Pyramidal Cell

Cellula pyramidalis CA1

The principal output neuron of the hippocampus, gatekeeper of episodic memory and the cell whose firing patterns first revealed the brain's internal map of space.

Function

CA1 receives processed input from CA3 via the Schaffer collaterals and sends the hippocampus's main output back to the entorhinal cortex and subiculum. CA1 pyramidal cells fire as 'place cells', each active in a specific location as an animal navigates its environment.

Morphology

Similar to neocortical pyramidal cells but with a more elaborate apical dendrite that branches into oblique segments in stratum radiatum and terminates in a tuft in stratum lacunosum-moleculare.

Specification

  • Neurotransmitter: Glutamate
  • Receptors: NMDA; AMPA; GABA-A
  • Location: Hippocampal field CA1 (cornu ammonis 1).
  • Projections: Subiculum; Entorhinal cortex
  • Firing: Complex spike bursting
  • Markers: SLC17A7/VGLUT1; CAMK2A; WFS1 (CA1-enriched); POU3F1/SCIP; PCP4; ZBTB20
  • Developmental origin: Medial pallium
  • Disease: Alzheimer's disease; Temporal lobe epilepsy
  • Cell Ontology: CL:1001571

References

  1. O'Keefe J & Dostrovsky J (1971). The hippocampus as a spatial map. Preliminary evidence from unit activity in the freely-moving rat.. Brain Res 34: 171–175 PMID 5124915
  2. Moser EI, Moser MB, & McNaughton BL (2017). Spatial representation in the hippocampal formation: a history.. Nat Neurosci 20: 1448–1464 PMID 29073644

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