Reiter Sam, Liaw Hua-Peng, Yamawaki Tracy M, Naumann Robert K, Laurent Gilles
Max Planck Institute for Brain Research, Frankfurt, Germany.
Brain Behav Evol. 2017;90(1):41-52. doi: 10.1159/000478693. Epub 2017 Sep 4.
Our ability to navigate through the world depends on the function of the hippocampus. This old cortical structure plays a critical role in spatial navigation in mammals and in a variety of processes, including declarative and episodic memory and social behavior. Intense research has revealed much about hippocampal anatomy, physiology, and computation; yet, even intensely studied phenomena such as the shaping of place cell activity or the function of hippocampal firing patterns during sleep remain incompletely understood. Interestingly, while the hippocampus may be a 'higher order' area linked to a complex cortical hierarchy in mammals, it is an old cortical structure in evolutionary terms. The reptilian cortex, structurally much simpler than the mammalian cortex and hippocampus, therefore presents a good alternative model for exploring hippocampal function. Here, we trace common patterns in the evolution of the hippocampus of reptiles and mammals and ask which parts can be profitably compared to understand functional principles. In addition, we describe a selection of the highly diverse repertoire of reptilian behaviors to illustrate the value of a comparative approach towards understanding hippocampal function.
我们在世界中导航的能力取决于海马体的功能。这个古老的皮质结构在哺乳动物的空间导航以及包括陈述性和情景记忆及社会行为在内的各种过程中起着关键作用。深入的研究已经揭示了许多关于海马体的解剖学、生理学和计算方面的知识；然而，即使是像位置细胞活动的塑造或睡眠期间海马体放电模式的功能这样经过深入研究的现象，仍然没有被完全理解。有趣的是，虽然海马体在哺乳动物中可能是一个与复杂皮质层级相连的“高阶”区域，但从进化的角度来看，它是一个古老的皮质结构。爬行动物的皮质在结构上比哺乳动物的皮质和海马体简单得多，因此是探索海马体功能的一个很好的替代模型。在这里，我们追踪爬行动物和哺乳动物海马体进化中的共同模式，并探讨哪些部分可以进行有益的比较以理解功能原理。此外，我们描述了一系列高度多样的爬行动物行为，以说明比较方法在理解海马体功能方面的价值。
