Astrocytes contribute to the functional differentiation of the hippocampal longitudinal axis during reward and aversion processing in the adult male rat

This study aims to investigate whether glial cells, in particular putative astrocytes, contribute to functional distinctions between the dorsal (DH), intermediate (IH), and ventral (VH) hippocampus. To evaluate this, we performed three different behavioral tasks (i.e., Morris water maze; MWM, Passive avoidance; PA, T-maze place preference; TPP) to determine whether the DH, IH, and VH are necessary for each task. Sensitivity of behavioral tasks was confirmed using lidocaine (2 %, 1 μl) reversible inactivation. Subsequently, we examined the effects of silencing astrocytes, using fluorocitrate (FC, 1 mM/1 μl), into the DH, IH, and VH on these tasks. The effects of drugs were examined separately. We observed that injection of FC into the DH resulted in a significant impairment in MWM performance. In contrast, while FC injections into the IH or VH did not prevent platform localization during the acquisition phase, rats showed difficulty recalling the target zone during the retrieval phase. In the PA test, FC injection into the VH impaired task learning and memory. During the acquisition phase, FC injection into the DH or IH did not differ from the control in the number of shocks; however, during retrieval, there was a significant decrease in the latency before entering the dark chamber. The TPP test performance was impaired by FC injection in the IH. In sum, we show that glial cells, especially astrocytes in specific functional regions of the hippocampus, play distinct roles in processing aversive and rewarding experiences and contribute to the functional organization of the hippocampal longitudinal axis.