The endocrine function of the hippocampus: focus on the dentate gyrus

The hippocampus is distinctive because of its early dysfunction in multiple brain disorders. In addition to its function in learning and memory, we postulate that its is essential for the sensing of internal body states and the overall control of body physiology. Patient HM, with damage to the hippocampus, could no longer remember new events, but he had other deficiencies: he was not satiated after eating, and had deficits in respondng to other body states. This internal sensing requires receptors for diffusable molecules. Preliminary evidence suggests that these receptors are selectively expressed in the hippocampus. The objective of the project is to use online databases to catalogue the spectrum of metabolite and hormone receptors expressed in the dentate gyrus.