Introduction and Objectives

Abstract

1 1 Introduction Our current knowledge of neuroanatomy and neurophysiology shows that functional neuronal networks in the brain are essential for the existence of 'mind'. State of the art techniques allow assessing whether a specific function can be ascribed to a neuronal network. It is however essential to realize that the knowledge about the brain that we have today is based on a long history of discoveries in neuroscience. Hence, I will start the general introduction of my thesis with the title " Layer Specific Integrative Properties of Entorhinal Principal Neurons " with an historical perspective on the function of the brain, focusing on memory formation. This will be followed by an introduction to the entorhinal cortex (EC), and the related parahippocampal-hippocampal system to which EC belongs. The overall structural and connectional description will be supplemented with a number of functional notions, introducing the relationships between the four studies that form the experimental core of this thesis.