CoChat
Sign Up
Cited by 285Memory and Neural MechanismsNeuroscience and Neuropharmacology ResearchStress Responses and Cortisol

The subiculum: what it does, what it might do, and what neuroanatomy has yet to tell us

Open access
O'Mara, Shane·2005·Journal of Anatomy
DOI 10.1111/j.1469-7580.2005.00446.xPMC PMC1571536
Open this paper in CoChat — free account

Abstract

The subiculum is a pivotal but under‐investigated structure positioned between the hippocampus proper and entorhinal and other cortices, as well as a range of subcortical structures. The subiculum has a range of electrophysiological and functional properties which are quite distinct from its input areas; given the widespread set of cortical and subcortical areas with which it interacts, it is able to influence activity in quite disparate brain regions. The rules governing plasticity of synaptic transmission in the hippocampal–subicular axis are poorly understood; this axis appears to share some properties in common with the hippocampus proper, but behaves quite differently in other respects. Equally, its functional properties are not well understood; it plays an important but ill‐defined role in spatial navigation, mnemonic processing and control of the response to stress. Here, I review investigations of synaptic plasticity in the hippocampal–subicular pathway, recordings of subicular neurons in the freely moving behaving animal, the effects of behavioural and other stressors on subicular synaptic plasticity, and anatomical data on the dorso‐ventral organization of the subiculum in relation to the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) axis. I argue that there is a dorso‐ventral segregation of function within the subiculum: the dorsal component appears principally concerned with the processing of information about space, movement and memory, whereas the ventral component appears to play a major regulatory role in the inhibition of the HPA axis.

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1111/j.1469-7580.2005.00446.x

Cites

2 of 2 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Claims the paper makes

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • EC provides output to the subiculum, while receives inputs from the sensory cortex including the visual cortex.

    “EC provide output to the subiculum ( O'Mara, 2005), while receives inputs from the sensory cortex including the visual cortex (Kerr et al., 2007).”

    From Disrupted structural connectivity in ArcAβ mouse model of Aβ amyloidosis (2020) · cites this paper as O'Mara, 2005

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

The self-check needs the paper’s full text.

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Research works printed but not linked: 49

  1. Aggleton JP, Hunt PR, Nagle S, Neave N. The effects of selective lesions within the anterior thalamic nuclei on spatial memory in the rat. Behav Brain Res. 1996;81:189–198. doi: 10.1016/s0166-4328(96)89080-2. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar] · DOI
  2. Amaral DG, Dolorfo C, Alvarez-Royo P. Organization of CA1 projections to the subiculum: a PHA-L analysis in the rat. Hippocampus. 1991;1:415–435. doi: 10.1002/hipo.450010410. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar] · DOI
  3. Amaral DG, Witter MP. Hippocampal formation. In: Paxinos G, editor. The Rat Nervous System. 2nd. New York: Academic Press; 1995. pp. 247–291. [Google Scholar]
  4. Anderson M, Commins S, O'Mara SM. The effects of low frequency and two-pulse stimulation protocols on synaptic transmission in the CA1-subiculum pathway in the anaesthetized rat. Neurosci Lett. 2000;279:181–184. doi: 10.1016/s0304-3940(99)00996-9. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar] · DOI
  5. Anderson MI, O'Mara SM. Analysis of recordings of single-unit firing and population activity in the dorsal subiculum of unrestrained, freely moving rats. J Neurophysiol. 2003;90:655–665. doi: 10.1152/jn.00723.2002. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar] · DOI
  6. Anderson M, O'Mara SM. Activity of subicular units on a spatial and non-spatial version of an open-field object exploration task. Exp Brain Res. 2004;159:519–529. doi: 10.1007/s00221-004-1977-z. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar] · DOI
  7. Brodmann K. Vergleichende Lokalisationslehre der Grosshirnrinde in ihren Prinzipien dargestellt auf Grund des Zellenbaues. Leipzig: Barth; 1909. [Google Scholar]
  8. Canteras NS, Swanson LW. Projections of the ventral subiculum to the amygdala, septum, and hypothalamus: a PHA-L anterograde tract-tracing study in the rat. J Comp Neurol. 1992;324:180–194. doi: 10.1002/cne.903240204. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar] · DOI
  9. Commins S, Gigg J, Anderson M, O'Mara SM. The projection from hippocampal area CA1 to the subiculum sustains long-term potentiation. Neuroreport. 1998a;9:847–850. doi: 10.1097/00001756-199803300-00015. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar] · DOI
  10. Commins S, Gigg J, Anderson M, O'Mara SM. Interaction between paired-pulse facilitation and long-term potentiation in the projection from hippocampal area CA1 to the subiculum. Neuroreport. 1998b;9:4109–4113. doi: 10.1097/00001756-199812210-00019. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar] · DOI
  11. Commins S, O'Mara SM. Interactions between paired-pulse facilitation, low-frequency stimulation, and behavioral stress in the pathway from hippocampal area CA1 to the subiculum. Dissociation of baseline synaptic transmission from paired-pulse facilitation and depression of the same pathway. Psychobiology. 2000;28:1–11. [Google Scholar]
  12. Commins S, O'Neill LA, O'Mara SM. The effects of the bacterial endotoxin lipopolysaccharide on synaptic transmission and plasticity in the CA1-subiculum pathway in vivo. Neuroscience. 2001;102:273–280. doi: 10.1016/s0306-4522(00)00498-x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar] · DOI
  13. Commins S, Aggleton JP, O'Mara SM. Physiological evidence for a possible projection from dorsal subiculum to hippocampal area CA1. Exp Brain Res. 2002;146:155–160. doi: 10.1007/s00221-002-1158-x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar] · DOI
  14. Cuthbert PC, Gilchrist DP, Hicks SL, MacDougall HG, Curthoys IS. Electrophysiological evidence for vestibular activation of the guinea pig hippocampus. Neuroreport. 2000;11:1443–1447. doi: 10.1097/00001756-200005150-00018. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar] · DOI
  15. Deadwyler SA, Hampson RE. Differential but complementary mnemonic functions of the hippocampus and subiculum. Neuron. 2004;42:465–476. doi: 10.1016/s0896-6273(04)00195-3. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar] · DOI
  16. Eichenbaum H, Cohen NJ. From Conditioning to Conscious Recollection: Memory Systems of the Brain. Oxford: Oxford University Press; 2001. [Google Scholar]
  17. Fuchs E, Flugge G. Chronic social stress: effects on limbic brain structures. Physiol Behav. 2003;79:417–427. doi: 10.1016/s0031-9384(03)00161-6. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar] · DOI
  18. Gigg J, Finch DM, O'Mara SM. Responses of rat subicular neurons to convergent stimulation of lateral entorhinal cortex and CA1 in vivo. Brain Res. 2000;884:35–50. doi: 10.1016/s0006-8993(00)02878-x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar] · DOI
  19. van Groen T, Kadish I, Wyss JM. Role of the anterodorsal and anteroventral nuclei of the thalamus in spatial memory in the rat. Behav Brain Res. 2002;132:19–28. doi: 10.1016/s0166-4328(01)00390-4. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar] · DOI
  20. Kim JJ, Yoon KS. Stress: metaplastic effects in the hippocampus. Trends Neurosci. 1998;21:505–509. doi: 10.1016/s0166-2236(98)01322-8. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar] · DOI · Paper page
  21. King C, Recce M, O'Keefe J. The rhythmicity of cells of the medial septum/diagonal band of Broca in the awake freely moving rat: relationships with behaviour and hippo-campal theta. Eur J Neurosci. 1998;10:464–477. doi: 10.1046/j.1460-9568.1998.00026.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar] · DOI
  22. Kohler C. Subicular projections to the hypothalamus and brainstem: some novel aspects revealed in the rat by the anterograde PHA-L tracing method. Prog Brain Res. 1990;83:59–69. doi: 10.1016/s0079-6123(08)61241-8. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar] · DOI
  23. Lorente de No F. Studies on the structure of the cerebral cortex. Continuation of the study on the ammonic system. J Psychol Neurol. 1934;46:113–117. [Google Scholar]
  24. Lowry CA. Functional subsets of serotonergic neurones: Implications for control of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis. J Neuroendocrinol. 2002;14:911–923. doi: 10.1046/j.1365-2826.2002.00861.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar] · DOI · Paper page
  25. Lynch MA. Long-term potentiation and memory. Physiol Rev. 2004;84:87–136. doi: 10.1152/physrev.00014.2003. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar] · DOI
  26. Martin SJ, Grimwood PD, Morris RG. Synaptic plasticity and memory: an evaluation of the hypothesis. Ann Rev Neurosci. 2000;23:649–711. doi: 10.1146/annurev.neuro.23.1.649. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar] · DOI · Paper page
  27. McEwen BS. The neurobiology of stress: from serendipity to clinical relevance. Brain Res. 2000;886:172–189. doi: 10.1016/s0006-8993(00)02950-4. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar] · DOI · Paper page
  28. Morris RG, Schenk F, Tweedie F, Jarrard LE. Ibotenate lesions of hippocampus and/or subiculum. Dissociating components allocentric spatial learning. Eur J Neurosci. 1990;2:1016–1028. doi: 10.1111/j.1460-9568.1990.tb00014.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar] · DOI
  29. Mueller NK, Dolgas CM, Herman JP. Stressor-selective role of the ventral subiculum in regulation of neuroendocrine stress responses. Endocrinology. 2005;146:1650–1673. doi: 10.1210/en.2004-0097. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar] · DOI
  30. O'Keefe J, Nadel L. The Hippocampus as a Cognitive Map. Oxford: Clarendon Press; 1978. [Google Scholar]
  31. O'Keefe J. A review of the hippocampal place cells. Prog Neurobiol. 1979;13:419–439. doi: 10.1016/0301-0082(79)90005-4. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar] · DOI
  32. O'Mara SM, Rolls ET, Berthoz A, Kesner RP. Neurons responding to whole-body motion in the primate hippocampus. J Neurosci. 1994;14:6511–6523. doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.14-11-06511.1994. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar] · DOI
  33. O'Mara SM. Spatially selective firing properties of hippocampal formation neurons in rodents and primates. Prog Neurobiol. 1995;45:253–274. doi: 10.1016/0301-0082(94)00050-r. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar] · DOI
  34. O'Mara SM, Commins S, Anderson M. Synaptic plasticity in the hippocampal area CA1-subiculum projection: implications for theories of memory. Hippocampus. 2000;10:447–456. doi: 10.1002/1098-1063(2000)10:4<447::AID-HIPO11>3.0.CO;2-2. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar] · DOI
  35. O'Mara SM, Commins S, Anderson M, Gigg J. The subiculum: a review of form, physiology and function. Prog Neurobiol. 2001;64:129–155. doi: 10.1016/s0301-0082(00)00054-x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar] · DOI
  36. Paxinos G, Watson C. The rat brain in stereotaxic coordinates. San Diego: London: Academic; 1997. [Google Scholar]
  37. Risold PY, Thompson RH, Swanson LW. The structural organization of connections between hypothalamus and cerebral cortex. Brain Res Rev. 1997;19:197–254. doi: 10.1016/s0165-0173(97)00007-6. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar] · DOI
  38. Sapolsky RM. Stress and plasticity in the limbic system. Neurochem Res. 2003;28:1735–1742. doi: 10.1023/a:1026021307833. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar] · DOI
  39. Sharp PE. Subicular cells generate similar spatial firing patterns in two geometrically and visually distinctive environments: comparison with hippocampal place cells. Behav Brain Res. 1997;85:71–92. doi: 10.1016/s0166-4328(96)00165-9. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar] · DOI
  40. Sharp PE. Subicular place cells expand or contract their spatial firing pattern to fit the size of the environment in an open field but not in the presence of barriers: comparison with hippocampal place cells. Behav Neurosci. 1999;113:643–662. doi: 10.1037//0735-7044.113.4.643. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar] · DOI
  41. Sharp PE, Green C. Spatial correlates of firing patterns of single cells in the subiculum of the freely moving rat. J Neurosci. 1994;14:2339–2356. doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.14-04-02339.1994. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar] · DOI
  42. Shaw KN, Commins S, O'Mara SM. Lipopolysaccharide causes deficits in spatial learning in the watermaze but not in BDNF expression in the rat dentate gyrus. Behav Brain Res. 2001;28:47–54. doi: 10.1016/s0166-4328(01)00232-7. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar] · DOI
  43. Staff NP, Jung H-Y, Thiagarajan T, Yao M, Spruston N. Resting and active properties of pyramidal neurons in subiculum and CA1 of rat hippocampus. J Neurophysiol. 2000;84:2398–2408. doi: 10.1152/jn.2000.84.5.2398. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar] · DOI
  44. Vann SD, Brown MW, Erichsen JT, Aggleton JP. Fos imaging reveals differential patterns of hippocampal and parahippocampal subfield activation in rats in response to different spatial memory tests. J Neurosci. 2000a;20:2711–2718. doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.20-07-02711.2000. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar] · DOI
  45. Vann SD, Brown MW, Erichsen JT, Aggleton JP. Using fos imaging in the rat to reveal the anatomical extent of the disruptive effects of fornix lesions. J Neurosci. 2000b;20:8144–8152. doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.20-21-08144.2000. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar] · DOI
  46. Wiener SI, Korshunov VA, Garcia R, Berthoz A. Inertial, substratal and landmark cue control of hippocampal CA1 place cell activity. Eur J Neurosci. 1995;7:2206–2219. doi: 10.1111/j.1460-9568.1995.tb00642.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar] · DOI
  47. Wiest G, Baumgartner C, Deecke L, et al. Effects of hippocampal lesions on vestibular memory in whole-body rotations. J Vestibular Res. 1996;6:4S–S17. [Google Scholar]
  48. Witter MP, Groenewegen HJ. The subiculum: cytoarchitectonically a simple structure, but hodologically complex. In: Storm-Mathisen J, Zimmer J, Otterson OP, editors. Understanding the Brain Through the HippocampusProgress in Brain Research. Amsterdam: Elsevier; 1990. pp. 47–58. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  49. Zugaro MB, Tabuchi E, Fouquier C, Berthoz A, Wiener SI. Active locomotion increases peak firing rates of anterodorsal thalamic head direction cells. J Neurophysiol. 2001;86:692–702. doi: 10.1152/jn.2001.86.2.692. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar] · DOI

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
O'Mara, S.
Venue
Journal of Anatomy
Publisher
Wiley
Published
2005-09
Volume
207
Issue
3
Pages
271-282
ISSN
  • 0021-8782 (ISSN-L)
  • 1469-7580
DOI
10.1111/j.1469-7580.2005.00446.x
PMC
PMC1571536
OpenAlex
W2121253132
Cited by
285
References
2
Citations by year
2026: 13 · 2025: 20 · 2024: 26 · 2023: 14 · 2022: 11 · 2021: 16 · 2020: 22 · 2019: 20 · 2018: 20 · 2017: 19 · 2016: 21 · 2015: 9 · 2014: 12 · 2013: 15 · 2012: 8
FWCI
0.49
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/termsAndConditions#vor (vor, 25 d)
Locations
  • Journal of Anatomy (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Arrow@dit (Dublin Institute of Technology) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc-sa)
  • Trinity's Access to Research Output (TARA) (Trinity College Dublin) (submittedVersion)
Funders
Wellcome Trust
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Memory and Neural Mechanisms
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience › Neuroscience and Neuropharmacology Research
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Behavioral Neuroscience › Stress Responses and Cortisol
Keywords
subiculum, synaptic plasticity, spatial navigation, memory processes, stress response, hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, entorhinal cortex, hippocampus
MeSH terms
Animals, Hippocampus, Humans, Models, Neurological, Synaptic Transmission, Neuroanatomy, Neuronal Plasticity, Stress, Psychological, Prefrontal Cortex

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review