In Vivo Effective Connectivity Between Mouse Ventral Hippocampal Projections and Medial Prefrontal Cortex Microcircuits

Neural communication between rodent ventral hippocampus (vHPC) and medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) supports cognitive functions such as spatial working memory. Impaired vHPC-mPFC communication underlies cognitive deficits in rodent models relevant to schizophrenia. Neural activity in vHPC-mPFC projections and mPFC somatostatin-positive (SST+) interneurons are essential for normal vHPC-mPFC communication and spatial working memory. Whether and how these neural substrates interact to support vHPC-mPFC communication is unclear.