Ipsilateral afferents to the commissural zone of the fascia dentata, demonstrated in decommissurated rats by silver impregnation

Abstract

An ipsilateral pathway to the commissural zone of the dentate fascia has been demonstrated in the rat using the Fink‐Heimer silver impregnation method. The pathway arises in one or both of the CA3c and CA4 hippocampal subfields. As lesions of these structures normally will cause degeneration of commissural fibers terminating in the dentate fascia, animals without commissural fibers were provided for this study. This was done by transecting the hippocampal commissures in eight day old rats which were allowed to survive until the adult stage at which time all stainable, degenerating commissural fibers had disappeared. Lesions involving the CA3c/4‐subfields were then made. The resulting degeneration in the commissural zone of the dentate fascia was shown to be of purely ipsilateral origin. Fibers of this pathway display a spread along the longitudinal septotemporal axis of the hippocampal formation. The spread in the “septal” direction (ascent) is in general greater than the descent in the temporal direction, and the more “septal” the lesion is placed, the further does the degeneration extend in the septal direction. The most ascending fibers occupy a juxtagranular position along the medial crus of the dentate granule cells. The most descending (temporal) fibers are seen superficially in the commissural zone along the lateral crus. The pyramids of CA3c and the modified pyramids of CA4 are considered the most probable cells of origin of this system. The ipsilateral system may possibly be absent in normal rats. In view of the early age at which decommissuration was carried out in the experimental animals, axonal sprouting, resulting in the appearance of fibers which may normally be absent, cannot be excluded.