Ventral subiculum involvement in latent inhibition context specificity.

The subiculum is the main structure linking the hippocampus with several cortical and subcortical areas. In particular, ventral subiculum might act as an interface between the hippocampus, a contextual information processor, and cortical and subcortical processing systems related to motivation, such as the ventral striatum. Electrophysiological studies have shown a relationship between ventral subiculum and ventral striatum, namely a strong influence on mesolimbic system and the activity of dopaminergic neurons in the ventral tegmental area. Dopamine activity in this system has received special attention for its role in the latent inhibition phenomenon. However, the functional relationship between mesolimbic system and this behavioral process remains unclear. Two experiments were performed to analyze the role of ventral subiculum on latent inhibition. The results showed that ventral subiculum is involved in contextual processing that modulates the expression of latent inhibition. These findings are consistent with electrophysiological studies revealing the ventral subiculum as a structure modulating the mesolimbic DA system and DA release in the nucleus accumbens. 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.