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Updated: Feb 15, 2026

Acute Mouse Brain Slicing to Investigate Spontaneous Hippocampal Network Activity
Published on: August 28, 2020
Dentate network activity is necessary for spatial working memory by supporting CA3 sharp-wave ripple generation and
Takuya Sasaki1,2,3, Verónica C Piatti1, Ernie Hwaun1
1Neurobiology Section and Center for Neural Circuits and Behavior, Division of Biological Sciences, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA.
Abstract:
Complex spatial working memory tasks have been shown to require both hippocampal sharp-wave ripple (SWR) activity and dentate gyrus (DG) neuronal activity. We therefore asked whether DG inputs to CA3 contribute to spatial working memory by promoting SWR generation. Recordings from DG and CA3 while rats performed a dentate-dependent working memory task on an eight-arm radial maze revealed that the activity of dentate neurons and the incidence rate of SWRs both increased during reward consumption. We then found reduced reward-related CA3 SWR generation without direct input from dentate granule neurons. Furthermore, CA3 cells with place fields in not-yet-visited arms preferentially fired during SWRs at reward locations, and these prospective CA3 firing patterns were more pronounced for correct trials and were dentate-dependent. These results indicate that coordination of CA3 neuronal activity patterns by DG is necessary for the generation of neuronal firing patterns that support goal-directed behavior and memory.
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