Proposal #: IBN-9817583 PI Name: Raymond Kesner
The major aim of this grant is to study in rats the role of the hippocampus in learning and memory by determining which subregions within the hippocampus mediate important processes associated with the selection of appropriate spatial and temporal information to be remembered (pattern separation), the storage (consolidation) and retrieval of new patterns to be associated with spatial and temporal information as well as short-term representation of new, but ever present spatial-temporal contextual information. New behavioral paradigms were developed to determine whether in accordance with the assumptions of specific computational models, there is any subregional specificity. New neurotoxic lesion techniques were developed to ensure that the lesions are specific and primarily affect only one subregion. The knowledge that will be gained from this research will provide for a better understanding of how the hippocampus processes critical information associated with learning and memory. Since the same behavioral paradigms can also be used to study humans with brain damage to the hippocampus, this knowledge can also aid in the development of new therapeutic (behavioral and pharmacological) approaches to aid patients with damage to the hippocampus, which includes psychomotor epilepsy and Alzheimer's patients.
